Overused Plot Device
by osirisapollo
Summary: When the new case is at a hotel currently booked by a couples only event, the boys decide to bring in reinforcements. In which Dean and Sam call Charlie and Castiel for backup, and then Dean suffers through watching Sam and Castiel being the perfect couple. Get together Dean/Castiel fic.
1. Angels and Aliens

Sam knew it was probably a bad idea. They were only pretending to be together for the sake of the case and a week sleeping in the same bed might give them enough time to get used to the idea. He also knew that Dean would be furious if he ever found out about it. Well, it was a good thing he could handle Dean.

"Cas, we can just share the bed. I know Dean acts all weird about guys sharing a bed together, but it doesn't bother me. Unless it bothers you…" He let the sentence trail off. He knew that Castiel didn't really understand a lot of the "rules" that came with being human, but he didn't want the other man to feel uncomfortable either.

"Oh no. That would not bother me." Cas was looking at the bed as if sizing it up.

"Well at least we have that part figured out." Sam sighed and stretched, flopping onto the aforementioned bed. "I'm too big for the couch anyway. And what kind of fiancée would I be if I made you sleep on the couch?" He shot a grin at Cas who gave him an unamused glare before turning away.

Sam watched as he grabbed his bag and began unpacking his new clothes and loading them into the dresser. Dean never unpacked his duffle, so where did Cas learn to do that?

"What are you doing?" He asked him, mostly just to have something to talk to him about. He was kind of worried about the amount of time that Cas and he would be spending alone this week. Not that they had a strained relationship, but they had spent very little time alone together. Dean had always been around.

"I'm unpacking."

"Well that much is obvious." Sam rolled his eyes at the incredibly literal angel. "But why are you unpacking?"

"Charlie said that if I took the clothes out of the bag they wouldn't be wrinkled when I wanted to wear them. She said that you boys might need to learn that trick. Would you like me to show you?" Castiel stopped unpacking to give him a look that let Sam know the angel was serious. He honestly believed that he and his brother didn't unpack because they didn't know how.

Sam huffed out a short laugh at that. "No thanks. I think I can figure it out." And then as if to prove his point he rolled off the bed and began unpacking his own bag.

"Hand me your dress shirt and slacks." He said, reaching into his own bag to pull out his nicer outfit. They really had no idea what all would be required for this couple's get away and had packed for quite a few eventualities. He grabbed the bundle of clothes that Cas handed him and proceeded to the tiny closet next to the bed. He felt Castiel's eyes on him while he pulled out some hangers, carefully hanging and straightening the fancy shirts they had purchased for the occasion. As he folded the slacks in half and hung them on the rung of the hanger the question came.

"What are you doing?"

He should have been expecting it. The poor guy really only had himself and Dean to show him the ropes, and they rarely taught him things like hanging clothes on hangers to make them look nice. It made him hide a smile. He didn't want Cas to think he was making fun of him.

"Some of the fabrics used on nicer clothes will hold their shape better, but that means that the folds from shoving them in a drawer will stay, even when you try to wear them. If you hang them up they won't have those folds." He explained it as professionally as possible.

"Oh, okay." And then Cas went back to placing his other clothes into the dresser.

It was almost five before the phone on the nightstand began to ring. They were invited to a buffet meet and greet in the conference area on the ground floor. There would be nine other couples at the "retreat" and since most of the activities would include at least one of the other couples, they were invited down to introduce themselves to the other people they would be spending the week with.

They had been mostly lazing around the room for the day. They did some research, but they didn't have much to go on yet. They'd have to find out some more information after the other guests had started to go to bed. Cas was sitting on the bed, back against the headboard and legs crossed in front of him, watching TV.

"What are you watching?" Sam asked him, plopping down on the edge of the bed, opposite the side that Castiel had apparently claimed.

"It's a show that means to prove the existence of aliens." Castiel smirked at that, but didn't turn his attention from the glowing screen on the opposite wall.

"Oh yeah? The only aliens we've ever come across ended up being the work of your brother, and fairies." Sam watched as the show's camera zoomed out from the field of knocked down corn stalks. It retracted until the entire field could be seen, as if from an airplane. It showed the corn had been knocked down into a spiral pattern that stretched the entire length of the field at its largest wrap.

"Yes, quite a few of the examples that they have shown are clearly the work of angels. It amazes me how humans find explanation for oddities by inventing more oddities." And his face showed that he was indeed amused by the observation.

"Ok, no human bashing." Sam sent him a grin to let him know that he wasn't being serious. "Anyway, it's time to get dressed for dinner. They said it starts in about an hour."

"It does not take me an hour to change clothes."

Sam rolled his eyes at the angel. He had a feeling the muscles in his eyes would be getting quite the workout this week.

"Well I'm going to jump in the shower before I get dressed. I guess you probably don't need one, so just carry on mocking humans in your mind." He hopped off the bed and headed for the dresser, feeling odd that he had to dig around in a drawer for a change of clothes instead of his duffle. He made sure there were available towels in the bathroom already and then closed the door just as Castiel was huffing a laugh at the alien explanation for the pyramids.

The conference room was decked out for the occasion. Apparently a bunch of couples in need of some time away required tablecloths and centerpieces. The room looked almost like something out of a wedding movie. And that was a little weird. Especially with the buffet spanning one of the walls, and the tiered cake on the last table. The food smelled good though.

Castiel had donned a casual blue golf shirt and khaki pants for the occasion. He looked so much like the dad that Claire was always trying to dress him as. She would call him so she could get registered for college, or whatever she was trying to get into these days that was easier with parental approval. Sam was a little worried it wasn't really going to fit in with the happy gay couple vibe they were trying to convey. Oh well, who were these people to tell Cas that his clothes weren't gay enough anyway?

Sam himself was wearing a pale purple V-neck and some stylishly torn jeans. He probably looked gay enough for the both of them. The thought made him chuckle to himself. The impression they were going to give off was the complete opposite of the truth.

"How's my favorite brother-in-law?" Charlie's voice sounded from behind him, and he turned to see her sauntering in with a hand hanging off Dean's elbow. His brother glared around the room, obviously displeased with the whole affair, eyes eventually landing on Castiel who had turned to join the group. Dean's eyes lit up with amusement.

"What the hell are you wearing?" He smirked at Castiel as he eyed his new outfit. "Suburban dad chic?"

Cas frowned a little as he placed his hand on the inside of Sam's elbow in the same way that Charlie was holding on to Dean.

"I think he looks fantastic!" Charlie interjected before glaring over at Dean. Charlie had been the one to take Cas shopping and had helped pick out his clothes.

Dean seemed to realize that he had managed to insult half of the group with one comment, and he quickly backed down. "I was just kidding guys! Cas, you look great!" When he realized what he'd said, a red tinge crept onto his cheekbones.

"How do you guys like your room?" Sam asked them, effectively saving his brother from his own big mouth.

"It's nice! There's a minibar, and it's stocked! Although it only has one bed." Charlie interjected immediately, frowning at Dean again at the mention of the bed they would have to share.

Sam glanced down at Cas. They hadn't even noticed a minibar. They'd have to check that out when they got back to the room.

"Yes. It is quite a bit nicer then the places that you usually stay at." Castiel input into the conversation.

"Yeah, and look at all of that food. Can we eat now?" Of course Dean was focused on the most important part of the retreat.

Dean and Charlie headed for the buffet at an amazing speed after that comment, Charlie practically bouncing across the room and Dean trying to keep up.

"I suppose I should eat something, so as not to arouse suspicion." Castiel commented, glancing up at Sam as if it was a question.

He smiled down at his friend. "Yeah. It might be a good opportunity for you to figure out some foods that you like. You can grab a little of everything. If you don't eat it all it's fine. Everyone takes too much at a buffet." He placed his hand over Castiel's where it still rested on his elbow and led them both toward the table with the empty plates waiting to be filled.

"Hey! They have pie!" Dean turned to them excitedly as they approached. His face turned sour as he saw the placement of their hands, and when Sam raised an eyebrow at the look, his brother glanced pointedly around the mostly empty room. There were only two other couples in the room so far, and they were already engaged in conversation, not paying any attention to the Winchester group.

Sam rolled his eyes at his brother's blatant jealousy and in a fit of pique used the hand covering Castiel's to pull the other man in front of him, indicating that Cas should get his food ahead of him. Dean's glare sharpened before he went back to heaping ridiculous amounts of pie onto his plate. If Castiel thought it strange that Sam was acting that way, he didn't indicate it. He moved forward to grab a plate and quickly began filling it with a little of everything he saw.

Dinner turned out to be a strange affair. They had all stuck together, so there was only room for one other couple at their table. It turned out that Castiel and Sam weren't the only gay couple at the event and the other couple took the available seats at their table. They introduced themselves as Derek and Harry.

"The queers have to stick together at these things." Harry said by way of explanation as they joined the table. Derek pulled out his chair for him and he flopped down into it unceremoniously, glancing suspiciously at the straight couple across the table from him.

"I'm Sam, and this is Cas." Sam introduced them, shaking Derek's hand as the other man took the seat next to him. "These other two are my brother Dean, and his wife Charlie." There was a pair of barely disguised cringes from the aforementioned couple at the word wife. Sam sent them both a glare.

The greeting between the group lasted longer than necessary with both Charlie and Harry questioning everything about the newcomers and group respectively.

"So, how long have you been married?" Harry asked her, after the short pause that had been him finally eating some of the food he'd set in front of himself.

"A little over two years. My little Deanie finally got all of his dreams fulfilled." She grinned at Dean, who paused in his food shoveling long enough to glare at her, then continued where he left off.

"Oh that's great! We're here celebrating our two-year anniversary. Spring wedding, you know." Harry said, glancing adoringly at his husband. Derek grinned back at him, but didn't add to the conversation.

"So, you guys are engaged?" Harry leaned forward a little, looking at Sam and Castiel around his husband.

"Yes." Not that Sam had any qualms about talking with the newcomer, but he really didn't know what else to add.

"Well! When's the wedding? We got married as soon as we legally could. Isn't it great that it's legal now? Like oh my god, the gays are getting the same rights that everyone else has!" He rolled his eyes as he said the last.

"We haven't picked a date yet." Sam told them, making a mental note that they should probably figure out an answer for that before they got asked it too many more times.

"Well why the hell not?" Harry asked, his husband sent him a glare at his uncouth behavior.

"We haven't had time to really discuss it. We were kind of hoping we'd be able to pick a date while we were here." Sam told them, placing his hand over Castiel's where it rested on the table. He grinned down at him, and hoped Cas would be able to play along.

The Winchesters were used to having to think quickly and lying to people. And somehow Charlie was already amazing at it, even though she hadn't been hunting long. As an angel it was hard to imagine that Cas had much experience lying, or even playing a role.

"Yes…" Castiel's voice trailed off for a second. "It will make it much easier to plan the wedding when we decide what time of year it will be held." And although the way he spoke was still almost too proper to sound human, the lie rolled right off his tongue.

There was a slight pause in the conversation, and Sam had just begun to worry that the way Cas talked had somehow tipped off the newcomers when Harry spoke again.

"What did you say you do again?" He asked Castiel, and it made Sam's hackles rise.

"I'm an interior designer." Cas restated. Sam worried that the gay stereotype was going to be what blew the whole thing.

"I think you missed your calling as an English professor." Harry joked, and everyone's guard dropped so fast that even Dean chuckled.


	2. Drunk Angel

Once they had deemed that most of the other couples had returned to their respective rooms, they all retired to Sam and Castiel's to work out the case. Charlie immediately made her way to the minibar, pouring out complex drinks for the group while Castiel watched in fascination.

"Have you ever even had a Jack and Coke, Cas?" She asked him, pouring something green into the tumbler of alcoholic coma she was concocting.

"No." He replied seriously.

"We don't water down our whiskey, Charlie." Dean said, making his way around the minibar and pulling out a tiny bottle of Jack Daniels the same size as the miniature shampoos these places always had for guests. He proceeded to down the entire bottle, as if to prove a point.

Sam joined them by Cas on the other side of the bar, sliding onto a barstool and not even having to hop up to sit on it. Next to him, Cas hopped up on the other stool, making Dean grin. He meant to share the amusement with his brother, but found his face already in a scowl.

"What?"

"Do you really think getting drunk is a good idea? We haven't even started working the case." Sam continued to glare at him and it just made Dean scrunch his face in irritation.

"I'm not getting drunk! I had one tiny tiny tiny drink! So tiny, it was almost ridiculous!" Dean defended himself, holding up the empty bottle and shaking it as if that somehow proved it's tinyness.

"And that's all you planned to drink?"

"Jesus Christ, Sam! What are you, my mother?" He noticed the slight flinch in the angel and immediately apologized. "Sorry, Cas."

"It's fine. I'm becoming quite accustomed to your constant blasphemy." The angel remarked, staring in amazement at the teal drink that Charlie was now pouring from the tumbler into the two glasses that were provided. She looked around and found two coffee cups near the coffee maker and filled those too.

"We'll have to bring our own glasses next time." She said, handing Dean one of the mugs before pushing the two glasses across the bar toward the rooms occupants and picking up the other mug for herself. "Drink up!"

Dean took a small sip from his glass, expecting something ridiculously sweet and maybe even really terrible as Charlie had been seemingly just pouring some of everything into the tumbler. He was pleasantly surprised as the mellow flavor washed over his tongue, not at all traumatizing his taste buds.

"This is actually pretty good!" He even let his surprise be heard in his voice, glancing at his brother and Cas to see how they felt about it. Sam had his eyebrows raised as he looked at the oddly colored drink. Castiel's glass was already empty. Charlie just grinned back at him.

"Cas! Geeze! Did you see how much booze was in that?" Dean reacted instinctively.

"Dean, it will take much more than that to get me intoxicated." The comment was accompanied by the sarcastic smirk that Cas had recently adopted that made Dean's insides twist.

"What's in this Charlie?" Sam asked, distracting Dean from his staring contest with Castiel's lips.

"Whiskey, and some other good things." Charlie said, grinning at Dean. "To water down the whiskey, you know."

"Ha ha." Dean grumbled, taking another sip of the colorful liquid. He was surprised again at the taste. "But seriously guys. We need to work out some of the details of this case, before Cas gets too drunk to be any help." He grinned sideways at the angel who just huffed out an amused breath.

"From what I can tell, the chances are fairly high that this is just a haunting of some sort." Sam was immediately all business and abandoned his drink in favor of wandering off in search of his laptop. Dean hopped into his seat as soon as it was vacant.

Returning to the bar, Sam shot a glare at his brother and moved to the other end to set up his laptop. "The biggest problem is that I can't find any evidence of anything ever happening in this hotel that would point to a vengeful spirit."

"Even so, what's with all the backup? It's just a salt and burn, once you figure out who it is. Why are there four of us here?" Charlie asked, completely reasonably.

"The thing is, we can't really figure out the ghost's M.O., if it is a ghost. None of the victims seemed to have anything in common. They didn't even stay at the same room while they were here. All different ages, races, sexes, and even occupations. I could not find one thing that they all fit."

"And that means…." Charlie raised an eyebrow at them as she poured the rest of her drink into Castiel's glass, which he promptly swallowed.

"That means we don't have any idea, when, where, or who the ghost might go after. Which means we have over twenty people at a time that we are supposed to be looking out for." Dean told her, raising his eyebrow as Cas slid Sam's half empty glass closer to himself before downing that one as well.

"I guess Cas really is getting wasted!" Charlie exclaimed excitedly, dropping back behind the bar with the tumbler in hand, presumably to make more of the beverage that had sparked Castiel's interest. Sam's look of disapproval over the top of his laptop made Dean grin.

"Let the guy have a little fun, Sam! Geeze. Is this what it's going to be like when you guys get married?" Dean joked, a dagger shooting through his heart when Sam smirked at him. The glow of the laptop screen made the smirk look evil.

They decided that if they did the old divide and conquer they could interview the entirety of the staff the next day. They would hopefully have enough information to be able to actually work the case.

Charlie had made another tumbler of the teal concoction, and Castiel had managed to convince Dean to go get the cooler out of the car so the brothers could drink beer. He would only have to share with Charlie. Dean noticed that she hadn't taken much for herself, and Cas drank almost the entirety of the tumbler. He was amused to note a pink tinge to his cheeks.

"Exactly how many shots were in that drink Charlie?" He asked the redhead who was staring at the angel in fascination.

"A lot." She shot a grin at Dean. "How much booze can this guy consume?"

"You read the books. The only time we've ever seen him really drunk, he drank the whole liquor store." Dean grinned back at her.

"You are aware that I am sitting within earshot, correct? There is no need to talk to about me as if I am not even here." Castiel's grumpy retort came with a grumpy face that was really more adorable than anything else.

"Sorry Cas." They said at the same time.

Sam sighed from his place seated on the bed. "I still haven't found anything incriminating about this place or the property." He rubbed at his eyes and closed the laptop. "It's past midnight, guys. I think it's about time we all hit the hay. I think breakfast is at seven, so we should probably try to get some sleep in."

Dean groaned, hearing Charlie copy the sentiment. They were getting Cas drunk! And Sam was ruining all their fun.

"Come along, darling. We can tell when we're unwanted!" Dean looped his arm through Charlie's and they both raised their noses into the air, huffing as they stomped toward the door. On the way out they heard Cas drunkenly question Sam.

"Why would we be hitting any hay?"

As the door closed behind them, they both cracked up. The angel was a source of constant amusement.

Six hours of sleep and a shower later and Dean felt like a new man. As much as he had complained about having to share the bed with Charlie, it had obviously had a fantastic effect on his sleeping patterns. He couldn't remember the last time he'd slept for six hours straight. Thankfully Charlie was also used to sleeping alone and they had both kept to their own sides of the bed too.

They headed down to breakfast together, once again arm in arm. They joked on the way about Cas getting drunk and the hangover the angel was likely to have had in the morning. They arrived in the conference room at exactly seven, and were surprised to see Castiel seated at the same table and in the same chair as he had been the night before. He was the only one in the room.

"How are you feeling this morning, Cas?" Dean asked, claiming the seat next to the angel. Charlie plopped into the seat on the other side of him.

"Fine." Castiel looked up and smiled at the new additions to his table. His hands were wrapped firmly around a steaming cup of coffee.

"None of the after-effects of drinking?" Charlie asked with genuine curiosity.

"I did have a bit of a headache this morning." He admitted with a little bit of a blush. Like he was embarrassed of his weakness. "Sam gave me some pain medication and made me drink three glasses of water. I feel much better now."

"Speaking of Samantha, where is he?" Dean looked around the room as if his brother could be hiding under one of the tablecloths.

"He's in the shower. He went for a run earlier this morning. He should be here soon."

Dean scrunched up his face in distaste. "So you came down here alone?" The look he received for the question clearly said he was the biggest idiot on the planet.

"Yes." And then Castiel went back to sipping at his coffee.

"I thought breakfast was at seven. Where is all the food?" Charlie successfully changed the subject, drawing the attention of both men.

"Yeah, what the hell? Don't tell me I woke up early for nothin'." Dean glared around the room again, willing food to appear on the long tables. As soon as his eyes swung back to the entryway, two of the men employed by the hotel pushed a pair of carts into the room. They were covered completely with breakfast foods. The smell of the food wafted in their direction and Dean's stomach rumbled loudly in response. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Castiel shoot him an amused glance.

Dean drooled as he watched the men unload their carts onto the tables. Everything he had ever dreamed of having for breakfast was laid out like a feast just for him. Especially if he was the first one to get to those tables. He saw Charlie stand and he shot out of his own chair. Before he knew it they were racing to the tables. She laughed as he almost tripped over one of the chair legs that was sticking out farther than the others. He then got to laugh at her when she turned to grin at him and almost ran straight into one of the tables.

"Ladies first, Dean!" She yelled at him, getting to the table of empty plates first and waving one at him like a victory flag.

"Well, since I see no ladies here, I guess that means I get to go first." He replied, grabbing a plate and standing between her and the food. She glared at him for a second. He saw the flash of a smirk before the wind was knocked out of him and he staring at the ceiling. The little shit had done a leg sweep on him! When he rolled his head to look where he knew she would be, he saw that she already had a piece of bacon hanging from her mouth and was piling hash browns onto her plate.

He picked himself and his pride up off the floor, shooting a glare at the little sister he'd never wanted. He heard a laugh and turned disbelieving eyes on the angel they had left at the table. He was full on smiling back at Dean. His lips were pulled back far enough to show all of his teeth and even some of his gums. The raising of his cheeks with the action had caused his eyes to squint and laugh lines to crowd around them. His nose even scrunched up a little. It was beautiful.

Charlie cleared her throat, and Dean turned back to her. Her raised eyebrow said he may have been staring at the angel's smile a little too long.

"This asshole is laughing at me!" Dean deflected, shooting a glare at Castiel, that only made the angel chuckle again. Instead of looking back at the sun coming out from behind a storm cloud that was Castiel's smile, he started loading his plate.

So, he wasn't the first one to the buffet. It wasn't like Charlie could clean the place out by herself. He grabbed a little bit of everything, and in the design he'd come up with when he'd seen the food being unloaded, he ended at the sausage gravy. He then proceeded to pour it over the entirety of the food he'd chosen. It looked like a heart attack, but it would be worth every last involuntary twitch of his death.


	3. Angels and French Maids

By the time Sam arrived at the conference room,breakfast was in full swing. It had taken him longer than predicted to get ready. Somehow he had gotten caught up in all the gay stereotypes that he was constantly harping to people were not true.

He had blown his hair dry, because he thought if his hair didn't look good, he wouldn't look gay enough. Every shirt he picked out he decided didn't match well enough, or didn't compliment his features or some other ridiculous reason why he couldn't wear it. It had turned into a circus in his room for a while, until he finally realized he was being absolutely the most ridiculous person on the entire planet.

He refolded all the clothes he had strewn around the room, grabbed the first shirt he'd seen and thrown it on. Of course the one he grabbed ended up being one of Castiel's, and he definitely looked the part when he put that one on.

It had stretched to accommodate him, at the cost of length, and when he looked at himself in the mirror he laughed so hard he had to sit down. The shirt was stretched so far that every line of every muscle was clearly visible. It almost surprised him that he couldn't see the outline of the tattoo on his chest. It rode up so high that his entire midriff was revealed making him feel like a teenage girl.

When his laughter finally died down he was relaxed enough to realize just how much of an idiot he'd been. He took off Castiel's shirt, refolding it and placing it back in the drawer before finding one of his own.

It wasn't the first time he wished that his mindset was more like the angel he was pretending to be engaged to. Cas didn't believe stereotypes, because he didn't know any of them. He'd never been taught what people thought of others just because some part of a person was different. He'd observed humanity for thousands of years and he had never seen a correlation. Castiel was one of the reasons that Sam believed his own more open mindset was more true than the way that some people liked to think.

He'd finally gotten himself dressed, and ran a hand through his hair a couple of times to make it look more like he usually wore it. Then he finally made his way down to breakfast.

As soon as he entered he spotted his group. Dean and Charlie were laughing loudly and Castiel was watching them with an amused look on his face. The rest of the room was filled with other couples chatting much more quietly. A few of them were glaring in the general direction of his group, but he wouldn't change them for the world.

He stopped by the food tables, picking up some wheat toast and a bowl filled with fruit pieces, and headed toward the table. As he dropped into the chair beside Cas, he realized the couple from last night had joined them again.

"So I guess heart attacks don't run in the family, then?" Harry commented, pointedly looking at Sam's choice in breakfast foods.

Sam glanced toward his brother, and although his plate was empty, the sheer amount of gravy that had landed on the table around the empty plate told him enough. The look of disgust he shot Dean was rebounded by a shit eating grin that said he was about to be made fun of.

"What took so long, Sammy?" It was like his brother knew exactly which buttons to push at any given moment, and he glared in lieu of an answer.

"He must have been fixing his hair." Dean told the table in mock seriousness, nodding in fake understanding toward the rest of the group.

Knowing how to throw his brother off his grove was one of the skills Sam prided himself on, so he nodded along with his brother. He then raised his hand to his hair and ran it through while shaking his head like he was in an herbal essence commercial.

"I have no idea what you mean." He said in all seriousness, shaking his head until his hair resettled into it regular pattern, and then pushing it back from his face with a flick of his head. The Fabio bit always made his brother chuckle and this time was no exception. The rest of the table joined in.

"If I had hair like that I would take care of it too." Harry said, smiling kindly at Sam like he couldn't tell if that was really the reason that Sam had been running late.

"Tell me about it." Charlie added, glaring across the table at Sam's glorious locks, and making everyone crack up again.

After a pause in conversation where Sam ate his breakfast and half the group left for more food or to refill their coffee, Harry brought up the activities that the couples had been offered as part of the retreat.

"Are you guys going to do that opening up to your partner thing they are doing today?"

Sam glanced at his brother, knowing that at least one of the couples should be with the group on the lookout for strange happenings. Dean shrugged as if to say he didn't really care which couple ended up with the group.

"What do you think, Cas?" It seemed only polite to ask his partner before he made any decisions.

"It sounds like something that couples do when they are having troubles, does it not?" Castiel turned a confused face toward Sam, and he realized that the angel had no idea why they might participate in something like that.

"That's what I said!" Derek interjected. It was surprising as the man had barely spoken at all in the time that they had known him.

"It's supposed to strengthen our bond." Harry looked disappointed that Derek did not want to participate.

"How does that work?" Cas asked him, with genuine curiosity. Sam had forgotten that Castiel was pretty much interested in all things human.

"It teaches you how to communicate more openly. It's supposed to show you how to express the things that you usually have a hard time talking about."

Castiel looked much less interested in the idea now, and Derek seemed to pick up on it.

"Tomorrow they are doing a group about being able to properly read the body language of your partner. That's the one I'm interested in." He told Cas.

Sam realized that the other couple seemed to be gauging which one sounded better according to what their group had to say about it. Derek was going to be sorely disappointed when he realized that this group would be included in every one of the events, one way or another.

"Oh yes, that sounds much more interesting." Castiel told Derek, almost enthusiastically. Sam raised his brow at his brother. Guess Cas made the decision for them.

"What do you say, sweet tits? Want to learn how to communicate with each other?" Dean asked, turning to Charlie, who made a face of utter disgust.

"Yes. Maybe they can teach you how to communicate without using the words sweet and or tits ever again." She said it in pure disdain, causing the table to erupt in laughter again.

Since his brother and fake sister-in-law were occupied with the group, Sam decided that he should probably get started on interviewing the employees. He hadn't decided yet how best to get information out of them, but he knew the angel was almost useless in the interview process. He'd sent Castiel back to the room to continue the fruitless research on what could possibly be haunting the place.

He'd managed to find the information on which employees had been working at the times of the attacks, and while there were five that he could find and interrogate at the hotel, there were three of them that had quit after witnessing the events. They were the ones most likely to have some really useful information. If they couldn't find anything else here he and Dean would have to make a fake FBI trip out to talk to the other witnesses.

The hotel manager turned out to be the worst of the witnesses. She refused to even admit that anything had happened, even after accepting a fairly hefty bribe. And then she refused to return the money.

The bellboy, although listed as a witness on the police report, hadn't seen anything unusual. The cook couldn't stop talking about all the unusual things he had seen since he'd started working there. The girl at the front desk only liked the attention and seemed to only be repeating the same stories the cook had told him. That left only the night shift manager and he wouldn't be in until, you guessed it, the night.

What a waste of Sam's time that ordeal had been. Waste of time, effort and money! He still couldn't believe the lady had just swiped all that money and provided no information at all. Who does that?

He made his way back to the room to grab Cas so they could get some lunch. Lunch wasn't served buffet style like the other meals. They had the option of ordering room service, but Sam felt like he'd spent enough money for one day. He shot a text to his brother that they'd run to grab burgers, and continued to his room.

He found the angel engrossed in the television again.

"What are you watching now?" He asked the angel, immediately forgiving him for giving up on the research. He'd already given up on it himself.

The angel turned soulful eyes on him and his heart broke a little bit at the look on his face.

"Oh god, you're not watching the Hallmark channel, are you?" Castiel was banned from the Hallmark channel. He took the stories so hard. When one story had a young girl that died of cancer leaving behind her baby for her mother to care for, Cas had been heartbroken for almost a week.

"No." The angel's voice was thick with emotion.

"Yes you are." Sam took the remote from his hand and quickly changed it to the History channel.

"Hey! I was watching that!"

"And now you're not." Sam placed the remote out of reach, for the other man's own good.

"But Sam, what if she survives the surgery?" The tone was borderline pathetic.

"What are her chances?" This was a perfectly logical question. He'd seen enough of that crap TV when he'd been with Jessica.

"Miracles happen all the time!" Castiel seemed to be trying to convince himself more than Sam. It made his heart clench to think of an angel trying so hard to convince himself of miracles.

"No Cas. You can watch the History channel. Actually, you can watch the History channel when we get back. How about we drive into town and grab some burgers for lunch?" Castiel loved burgers, and although he didn't need to eat, he'd yet to turn down an opportunity to stuff himself with the greasy goodness.

"Ok Sam. Let's get burgers." He hopped right off the bed and headed for the door immediately. Sam would have to remember how good of a distraction that actually was.

After dinner that night they reconvened in Sam and Castiel's room again.

"So that communication thing was pointless, and you didn't get any leads either?" Dean twisted the cap off his beer and tossed it in the general direction of the trashcan.

Sam glared at him and picked the cap up off the floor, depositing it in the trashcan it had landed next to. "We still have one more person to interview here, but we might have to branch outside of the hotel to get answers. No one has seen anything suspicious since we've been here?"

"Not that I'm aware of. And we talked to everyone at that group thing. Agggghhhh." Dean flopped down spread eagle on the bed in his frustration.

"And Dean had to talk about his feeeeelings." Charlie grinned in a way that said this had been a particularly grueling experience for Dean.

Sam grinned back at her, thankful for the ammunition. "You know it's a real problem when you have a hard time talking about fake feelings, Dean."

Dean sat up quickly on the bed, holding his beer out so there was no chance of it spilling while he flailed around. "That's the thing! It was actually harder than talking about my real feelings!" He sounded more surprised than irritated, so the dig had apparently not stuck at all. "It was so weird. Like yeah, I love Charlie, like an irritating little sister. And I have no idea how you're supposed to feel when you are talking about not being able to communicate with your wife. My relationships are lucky to last a week! How do you feel when you can't communicate something intimate you'd like to try with your wife? I feel fucking awkward that's what! No offense, but the thought of Charlie in a French maid outfit just gives me the heebies." The shudder that passed through his body at the thought wracked his whole body.

"Hey!" Charlie exclaimed, although she didn't really seem upset. "I don't think I'd mind so much seeing you dressed as a French maid."

That was one mental image that Sam did not need, but it popped into his head the second she said it. At least the Dean in his mind looked pissed off about the outfit. "And now I will have to bleach my brain." He sent a look of disgust at Charlie. "Thanks for that."

Charlie's cackle actually sounded pretty freaking evil. "I made you picture it!" She laughed again. "Dean, I think the kitchen could use dusting!"

"My brain! My poor poor brain!" Sam clutched his head dramatically.

"Alright, enough of that." Dean glared at them while Sam and Charlie grinned at each other. "I guess Charlie and I will go see if the night manager has any information before we head to bed." He rolled off of the bed, depositing his empty bottle into the room's tiny trashcan and heading toward the door. "We'll let you know if we find anything out tomorrow."

Charlie joined Dean at the door and gave them a little wave as they headed out. Sam was a little jealous Dean had Charlie as backup for questioning. His own partner was more likely to scare the daylights out of the witnesses. Speaking of his partner…

Sam turned to find Castiel sat at one of the chairs at the bar again. The guy was so silent sometimes that it was like he wasn't even there.

"Well you're being awfully quiet tonight." Sam pulled up the other stool and nursed his beer, mostly because he'd already opened it.

"What do French maid's wear?" Castiel asked him in all seriousness.

Sam spit a bit of his beer across his hand in surprise. Leave it to Cas to ask a question like that while he was taking a sip. He swiped the back of his hand across his mouth and chin to clean up the mess. "Uh… you're going to have to google that one, buddy." He hoped Cas didn't see anything too traumatizing, and reminded himself to set the parental controls on his searches while Cas did that one.

Although the guy was literally older than dirt, Sam still felt the need to protect him from the more disturbing aspects of humanity. He wasn't sure what it was about the angel that made him want to protect him, but he knew his brother felt the same way. More than once he'd seen Dean steer the angel away from something potentially unsettling.

"You ready for bed?" He asked, watching the emotions of confusion and irritation sweep across the other man's face. He knew that Castiel hated when they made him look something up instead of just answering his questions.

The angel sighed and dropped off the stool, giving Sam another disgruntled look that said he was still upset that Sam was going to make him look something up. "I suppose."

Sam rolled his eyes, depositing his empty bottle in the can while heading to his own side of the bed. He stripped down to his boxers, facing away from the other man who was likely also stripping down.

He rolled his dirty clothes into a ball and threw them into the corner he had deemed the dirty laundry spot the night before. He turned back, pulling back the blankets and sliding in between the cool sheets. He watched as Castiel settled into the other side of the bed, and flicked off the light.

They laid there in slightly awkward silence for a moment, before Sam finally turned to the smaller man. "You know if you want…" he trailed off, and his eyes locked with the angel's. Apparently that was all that needed to be said as Cas rolled over and pressed his back in toward Sam's chest. He wrapped his arm around the angel and sighed into the dark hair now under his chin. They both relaxed into the embrace, and even as the action warmed his heart, Sam was aware that it was a terrible idea.

He'd always been a cuddler. No matter who he was in bed with, or how far away from each other they started out, he always ended up wrapped around them like an octopus by morning. He had only been about eleven when Dean had started refusing to share a bed with him, too old at that point to be comfortable waking up cuddled by his baby brother. Although, at the time, Sam was still the smaller one. His reaction would probably be a lot worse now that he would end up as the little spoon.

The night before had been no exception. They hadn't exactly started as far away from each other as possible, neither of them cared enough to pay attention to exactly how much space there was between them. It hadn't mattered much anyway. By the time Sam had woken up, they were completely wrapped around each other. And for once it wasn't just him. Castiel seemed to be a cuddler as well.

When Sam had discovered their position he tried to gently extract himself from the angel, forgetting that while the angel did sleep it was unnecessary. His eyes had popped open immediately and he glared at Sam.

"Sorry." Sam apologized, but realized he would not be able to move until the angel released him. Castiel's grip had tightened as he tried to wriggle free. Realizing the angel was not going to liberate him, he settled back into the embrace.

"This feels very nice." Cas told him, laying his head back onto the taller man's chest. Sam hadn't really known what to say to that.

"Yeah… cuddling is the best part of sharing a bed with someone." A silence had spread through the room, only the sound of them breathing could be heard.

"It's very warm and comfortable."

They laid there for a while longer before Sam convinced the angel to let him get up so he could go on his run.

"How are you feeling this morning?" He'd asked the angel as he pulled on his workout pants. At the groan he received in response, he chuckled, and headed to the tiny kitchen. He brought the other man a glass of water and forced him to finish it. He refilled it and brought him some pain killers. "Take those, and drink all of this glass too." He'd told the angel sternly.

"Thank you, Sam." Castiel did as directed immediately, while Sam finished getting ready for his run. Sam refilled the glass again before heading out.

"Sam?" The voice had seemed hesitant, and Sam paused halfway out of the door. "Do you think we could try cuddling again sometime?" The angel asked.

"Of course." Sam smiled at him and closed the door gently behind himself. He knew that cuddling wasn't really optional when someone was sharing a bed with him. He'd kept that bit to himself though.


	4. Angels and Ghosts

The night manager had been much more helpful than whoever Sam had talked to during the day. Not only had he witnessed two of the disturbances, but he also wanted to talk about it. It was "like, the coolest thing to ever happen to me, man!"

Charlie, being the wicked awesome chick she was, had coaxed the guy into telling the story in excruciating detail. No stone unturned. The bad part was the more the guy talked, the less it sounded like a haunting. Which could only mean more research.

"Want to head back to Cas and Sam's? Let 'em know what we found out?" Charlie asked as they headed for the elevator.

"Nah, it can wait. Sam will just want to start researching if we tell him, and he's going to need his beauty sleep. He has to do that body language thing with Cas tomorrow." Dean laughed and Charlie joined him.

They'd gone to the event today about opening up, and it was a lot more coupley than they had anticipated. The questions were fairly intimate and the exercises were pretty physical. The idea of Castiel , and body language , as added factors to that equation definitely garnered a few chuckles.

The next day, they showed up a little later to breakfast. Since breakfast had not been served promptly at seven the day before, Dean saw no reason to rush down. Of course, when they arrived, his brother and Castiel were already seated at "their" table.

Dean headed for the buffet immediately, making more of a mess than anything else as he tried to force more food on his plate than was physically possible for it's size. He sighed as his biscuit rolled off the plate, across one of the tables and promptly dropped onto the floor on the other side. As much as he would have liked to just pretend it hadn't happened, he was sure if he decided to do so he'd get caught by his brother. He just didn't want to see the bitchface that would accompany that.

He dropped his plate onto the buffet, almost losing his other biscuit in the process, and wandered around to the other side of the table to clean up his mess. He leaned over to pick it up, popping back up triumphantly, and glancing in the direction of the table to make sure someone had seen his accomplishment. Instead, what he saw made his blood boil.

His brother was chatting with that other couple again, his arm thrown over the shoulders of the man playing his fiancee. He'd pulled the angel close, and the shorter man fit perfectly into the folds of where Sam's arm and body met. Of course he fit perfectly. Castiel didn't even look put out by the action. He was leaning into the younger Winchester with no resistance, and watching the group silently. The whole thing made Dean feel sick to his stomach.

Dean had known it was a terrible idea the moment his brother agreed to play the gay couple at the retreat. He should have said something the second he realized denying himself the opportunity to play happy couple with Castiel would mean that his brother would be the only other option. He should have just agreed to partner with Cas on this case from the beginning. But his stupid fucking pride had told him he couldn't spend an entire week pretending to be gay, and he had listened. Because he was an idiot.

So he's gay for the angel. So what? He had been in love with the guy for so long he should have been able to accept the truth of it by now. Yeah, he's a dude. Yeah, he isn't exactly human. Yeah, it was all way out of Dean's league. Get over it, you idiot! But the longest relationships that Dean had ever kept in his life were his co dependance on his brother, and his friendship with Castiel.

Some days he was scared that trying anything with the angel would cause problems within their was the only friend that had ever stuck around. Dean couldn't bear the thought of losing that, even if it meant maybe getting something better. He knew making a move could only go one of two ways, and he refused to risk losing his friend.

Other times he freaked out about the whole guy thing. Dean knew at this point it shouldn't bother him anymore. He should just accept that he had no control over who he'd fallen for. He only had experience with women, but Cas wasn't the first guy he'd ever been attracted to and probably wouldn't be the last. He'd never given into the impulse before, though, and he certainly hadn't ever pictured himself with a man in a "for the rest of his life" kind of situation. Which was really the only option if he decided to try anything with the angel.

Not to mention "for the rest of his life" situations were never really on the table before. He'd always had to live his relationships in a more "for the rest of the week" fashion. What if he was terrible at it? He'd done it once before with Lisa, and had managed to make it work for a year. That was while giving up on hunting, though. As soon as Sammy came calling again, he was gone. In the case of things working out with Cas, he wouldn't have to give up hunting. Cas had just found his way into their lives without anything really having to change. And that in itself was a little scary. The fact was, Cas would not only be for the rest of his life, it would also be a situation that he might actually be able to stick with.

He also spent some of his time freaking out that Castiel was an angel. Did angels even feel love? He remembered what Anna said about the emotionless robots that were angels, but somehow he thought that Cas wasn't really like the rest them at all. He'd proven time and again that he felt differently than the other angels. And he'd spent so much time human, or almost human, at this point he definitely knew what human emotions were like. That didn't mean that he felt any of those emotions toward Dean, though.

Dean was also a bit intimidated at the thought of having an angel lover. Was that allowed? Would Castiel be cut off from heaven again if they found out he'd spent time between the sheets with the mud-monkeys the rest of heaven looked down on? And would Cas even be interested in having a sexual relationship? What if the junklessness of angels translated into not having a sex drive, even when inhabiting a human body?

Dean had spent a lot of his time worrying over every possible question and scenario his brain could conjure. So much time, in fact, it had been almost two years at this point. He'd known he was in love with Castiel for at least two years, and hadn't done anything about it. Except to spend all of his free time thinking about it.

Charlie called his name from her place at the table, effectively distracting him from his thoughts. "You planning to join us at some point today?"

"Yeah… yeah, sorry. I was just…" And then his mind luckily kicked back into gear and he held up the biscuit he had rescued from the floor. "I had to try to rescue this little guy." He said it in a mourning tone. "He didn't make it." He tossed it into the trashcan, and grabbed his plate. He'd been pretending not to be in love with the angel for two years. He could make it another week. Even if his little brother was a bit too close to his angel for his liking.

The couples event about body language started right after breakfast, so while Castiel and Sam were distracted, Dean and Charlie headed back to their room to begin researching. Charlie pulled out her tablet, with the awesome app she'd developed, and they started rattling off facts that would hopefully give them a lead on what they were hunting.

"It's been seen as a form of smoke."

"Seems to strangle the air from its victims, without taking corporeal form."

"Leaves its victims in a coma."

"It's unlikely to be a ghost."

"Alright, so what have we got left?" Dean sat himself at the bar, leaning over Charlie's shoulder at the screen.

"Well, according to our known monsters… It's a ghost or a demon." Charlie told him, with a sceptical look on her face.

"Yeah, I'm not buying either of those." He replied, sighing and rubbing a hand over his face. "Not one report of cold spots, or flickering lights. No one has smelled sulfur, and the smoke is reportedly grey. The only demon I've seen with whitish smoke was super powerful. They wouldn't be hanging out at a hotel, putting people in a coma for fun."

"And the whole thing is a little weird for a ghost. Like why would he be putting people in a coma? And why has no one ever seen him?" Charlie added.

Dean sighed again, finding it the only way to let out some of his frustration. "This case is getting really annoying, really fast."

Charlie glanced at him out of the corner of her eye before her face took on a sly look of mischief. "Yes I noticed that you didn't seem too happy to see your brother cuddling up to Cas earlier."

Dean felt his face pull into a look of irritation and disgust before he could stop himself. "Yeah, well it's a little weird watching your brother act that way with your best friend." He covered his reaction with words.

"And they weren't cuddling." He added, putting his foot right back in it. "Not that I would care if they were!" He recovered nicely.

The look on Charlie's face said differently. "Really? You wouldn't care if your brother was cozying up to Castiel? It wouldn't bother you if something came out of this little game of make believe?" She said it as if she already knew the answer. Not just the real answer, but the one he would say out loud too.

"Nope." He didn't want to disappoint. "Besides, that would never happen." He informed her, although it came out oddly like he was trying to convince her. Or himself.

"You're an idiot." She informed him, as if he didn't already know.

Since the body language group activity was longer than the one Dean and Charlie participated in the day before, the other group ended up having a lunch break. When Sam text him to ask what they were doing for lunch, they decided to order room service. Sam and Cas could just meet them in their room. They needed to discuss the case anyway.

"So we have literally no idea what we're dealing with. That's fantastic."

They were spread all over the room. Castiel was sitting on the bed, with his back to the headboard and his legs crossed in front of him with the tv on, not even paying attention to the brother's frustration. Charlie was seated at the bar with her collection of side dishes spread across the surface.

Dean was at the small table near the window with his ridiculously huge steak and giant pile of mashed potatoes in front of him. He had already rid his plate of the steamed vegetables that were included with his meal, and pushed them as far to the other side of the table as he could without pushing them off the other side.

Sam was pacing the room, his mostly abandoned salad sat neglected on the bar, as far away from Charlie's layout as she could push it. Dean grinned as he watched her push it even farther away with her fork. As if it was still too close to her real food.

Sam sighed and plopped down into the chair across from Dean's. He rubbed at his temples.

"You look stressed." Dean said, grinning at his brother, then glancing sideways at his angel to make sure he wasn't paying attention. He was still fascinated by the television and the man's voice quietly explaining how salt water taffy was made.

Sam glanced sideways at his brother before following his gaze to the angel. His brow furrowing as if he couldn't figure out where his brother was going with that comment.

Dean raised his eyebrow at him. "How is that body language thing going?" he asked, amused.

Sam's face turned sour automatically. "It's fine. Pretty interesting actually." And then a mischievous grin spread across his face. "We're learning to read people's actions, to better understand what they are trying to say when they are having a hard time using their words. You know how some people have a hard time communicating their feelings…" He raised his eyebrows at his brother and then it was his turn to look pointedly at the distracted angel. "Hey Cas, how are you liking learning about body language?"

Castiel turned fully away from the television, something that didn't happen often when he was engrossed in the programming. "It's very interesting. I feel as though I have learned a lot more about humans. When we get back, Marta promised to show me some examples of when someone has amorous intentions toward me. Sam told her he gets angry when people flirt with me, until he realizes that I am not asking them to stop because I am not aware of their intentions." He frowned a little at Sam after he said that part, as if just realizing how strange a thing it was for Sam to have said. "Although I am not entirely sure why Sam told her that."

Dean knew. He knew that one was one of his own issues. He knew that when people flirted with Cas, and it happened more often than you'd think, it pissed him off. He'd get angry at the person doing the flirting, and then he'd get angry at Castiel for allowing it to happen. Even though the angel had no idea he was Dean's. That bit was only true in Dean's own mind. Then he'd remember that Cas wouldn't recognize a come on if it bit him in the ass. He knew the exact scenario Sam had painted was one that had happened for him many times before and he was beginning to believe his brother knew it too. The smirk on his face as he turned back to face Dean said the chances were fairly high.

"You know, couples sometimes have jealousy issues. And I could see that you were really enjoying learning about human body language. I just thought you'd enjoy learning some more." Sam was so nonchalant about his explanation, Dean himself would have almost bought it.

"Oh yes, that is true. Good thinking, Sam." The angel bought right into Sam's excuse. "Thank you. It would probably be best if I understood how to recognize interest anyway. I seem to disappoint people when I don't understand their intentions." And then the angel turned back to his show.

"Yeah, that can be pretty frustrating." Sam nodded in understanding. Then he turned back to Dean. "I hate it when you're hitting on someone and they have no idea."

Dean glared at his brother with a frown, before forcing his face into a more neutral expression. He was a master of pretending he didn't know what the rest of his group was talking about. So, he covered himself in his blanket of denial once again.


	5. Angel Language

Sam and Castiel returned to the body language group after lunch. The younger Winchester was actually looking forward to watching Cas use the new information he learned. This group had turned out to be a really good idea for the angel. And if it helped him figure out a few things about Dean, so be it.

Now that the group activity was mostly over, Marta had come over to help Cas and Sam with their "jealousy issues".

"I feel as though perhaps I am misreading the situation at times." The angel was saying, definitely making sure the woman running the group was earning her pay.

"Yes, there are a lot of people that convince themselves that they are misinterpreting it, instead of accepting the truth of the situation, so they won't be forced to do something about it. Do you find that you have a hard time with other forms of confrontation?"

Castiel's face clearly said he thought the question was ridiculous. The look made Sam chuckle a bit and Marta turned her attention to him.

"You don't agree that Cas has issues with confrontation?"

Sam continued to chuckle while shaking his head. "No, I wouldn't say he has anything against confrontation." He tried to make it sound like he was talking about their relationship instead of the thousands of battles Castiel had endured in his life.

"Why do you think he has problems recognizing when someone is flirting with him then?" She asked in a way that said she was genuinely curious. He realized a little late that it may have been easier to let her believe that Cas was just intimidated by confrontation. The last thing they needed was someone psychoanalyzing them.

"To be honest, I think he just has a hard time seeing it." He shrugged to hopefully indicate he hadn't thought about it much.

"Well, Cas" she said his name as if she knew it was short for something, but since they hadn't given her anything else to go on she couldn't figure out what it was short for. "How did you know that Sam was interested, before you got together?"

A quick flash of panic crossed Castiel's face before he could stop it, but he schooled his features quickly enough. He looked to Sam, and the slight fear the taller man saw there made Sam jump to the rescue.

"Cas had no idea that I was interested." He said it a little too loudly, but it got Marta's attention back on him. "I practically had to yell it at him."

His mind quickly tried to work out a scenario for that scene in case she asked more questions. First, he tried to work out how he would approach the situation if he was ever interested in someone that seemed to have no clue as to his intentions. Real inspiration came, though, when he started thinking about how Dean might have to make his intentions clear to the angel in the future. Using Dean as his inspiration had worked out so far.

"What do you think you did that finally made him realize you were interested?"

"Well, subtlety just flies right over the poor guys head. I think that's why he's been so interested in this body language group, to be honest. So the only way to get him to notice me was clearly going to have to be a grand gesture that he could not mistake for anything else." Yeah so maybe his brother wasn't really a grand gesture kind of guy, but maybe he was.

"Cas has a bit of an older model vehicle. It didn't run very well and he was traveling a lot for work. I started to get worried that it would eventually break down on him." Ok, so maybe not the best example, especially since he knew Dean had already purchased the parts to fix up Castiel's car. It was a romantic gesture, but Dean would be walking right into that trap with no idea what he was getting into. Maybe it was a little too late to second guess his decision though.

"So I bought all the parts that I thought his car needed, and the next time he came by I got him away from the house for a while so I could fix it up. When he asked me why I did it, I just told him how I felt." Sam shrugged like it was no big deal, while inside he was having a tiny nervous breakdown about setting his brother up like that.

"Well it seems to have worked." Marta smiled at them in a way that Sam interpreted as romantic and sappy. It really wasn't even that romantic, Dean could have been just doing it for a friend in need. Given that his brother was infatuated with the angel, Sam could definitely interpret it as romantic.

"Alright let's move on." Marta turned her smile on Castiel. "In looking for signs of someone's interest, let's start with eye contact."

This comment made Sam laugh again. When her attention swung back to him he figured he would have to explain again as well. "Cas has a bit of an eye contact problem. As in, he is always making direct eye contact." And as if to prove his point those soulful blue eyes turned on Sam.

"Yes, I've noticed." Marta said, smiling at Castiel in a forgiving kind of way. "It is actually rather flattering." The angel's face showed only surprise as he turned back to her. "Cas, eye contact is a sign of attraction. I assume you make so much eye contact out of a need to be polite. A lot of children are taught to use eye contact as a sign of respect. Which, it is that as well, but if you have too much eye contact it can be seen as a sign of attraction."

Castiel looked dumbfounded at the knowledge, but he did not say a word in response. Sam assumed his reasoning had more to do with the angel's lack of knowledge with human customs than any respect issues.

"A person that is interested in you might also find a reason to touch you. Maybe when the waitress drops off your water she rests her hand on your shoulder as she leans over. Maybe the bartender touches your hand as he reaches out to take your money. These are harder to recognize as sometimes the waitress may just be losing her balance, or maybe the bartender is paying attention to something else while reaching for your money. You have to be careful with this one. Look for other signs. If the waitress seems to smile more when she looks at you, or the bartender is giving you complete eye contact as he fills your order." She paused as she let that sink in.

Castiel looked a little confused, but endlessly interested in everything she was saying. He looked back at Sam as if he was wondering if either of those things had happened before.

Sam didn't really know how he was supposed to react. He was much too busy thinking about all the times Dean had found an excuse to touch the angel. He'd give him a little shove when Castiel was standing near the coffee pot and Dean had to have his coffee right then . Or when he'd lay a hand on the angel's shoulder and lean over him as he looked at whatever Cas was researching. Or how whenever the angel's mojo was weakened Dean would hold onto him as if he had to be there to hold him up.

Marta tilted her head to the side in a very familiar gesture. It was almost the same head tilt that Castiel himself used much of the time. "Another sign that someone is interested is the head tilt." Which she was apparently demonstrating. Sam wondered if he would have to start acting jealous at some point. Cas just tilted his head back at her.

"Mirroring another person's actions is another sign." She said, making Castiel sit up as straight as possible. Marta giggled at him. "It seems like you are giving off a lot of the signs of interest, unintentionally. It's starting to become clearer why you have such a hard time seeing these gestures in others." Castiel squirmed in his seat a little.

"Ok here's an easy one." She seemed to be trying to save Cas from his sudden embarrassment. "Personal space."

Sam choked on his own saliva in his efforts to hold back his natural reaction to those words. He knew where she was going with this one. He also knew how often Dean had complained about his personal space when Cas had first come around. Castiel had never changed his ways, but Dean had stopped complaining about it a long time ago. Sam had a coughing fit while the other two watched, Marta handing him a bottle of water.

"Are you alright?" She asked, concerned.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Sam took a large gulp of the water and then a large breath to steady himself. "I'm sorry, please continue." He shook his head at the concerned expression on Castiel's face. They certainly didn't need an angelic rescue for this.

"I was saying that a good indicator of interest is when someone seems to like to spend time in your personal space. Not only will they find excuses to touch you, but they will tend to stand a little closer than necessary. Maybe when they talk to you, they seem to lean in. Or sometimes they reach for things around you, without asking you to move out of the way. One way to test if this is a sign of attraction is to take a step back. Sometimes they will just carry on as if nothing has changed, but someone that is trying to be close to you will likely find a reason to step back into your personal space again."

At this point even Castiel seemed to understand why Sam had reacted the way he had to her mentioning personal space. The angel rarely showed emotion on his face, but at that moment there was an unmistakeable pinkness to his cheekbones.

"Those are some of the best indicators of interest that I know of. I hope that was helpful to you, Cas. And Sam, I hope you will be understanding if he still has a hard time noticing these signs. It may take him a while to get used to looking for them." She smiled cheerfully at them and stood. "Do you guys have any other questions?"

Both men shook their heads and moved to stand with her.

"Sorry to cut this short, but I have another group I'm supposed to talk to in an hour." She stuck her hand out to shake with each of them.

"Thank you so much for your help." Castiel enthused gratefully. There was no mistaking the genuine tone in his voice, and Marta blushed a little. No wonder the angel was always getting hit on.

"Yeah, thanks." Sam gave her small smile and reached for Cas, pulling him gently to his side as they watched her walk away.

"So, did you learn anything?" Sam asked the angel when Marta was out of earshot.

"I believe I did." Castiel replied, a small frown crossing his face as he seemed to contemplate that fact. Sam had no doubt the questions would come later. Cas would have his time to sort it all out, and Sam would have some time to hopefully come up with some answers. Although he knew his brother had a thing for the angel, it wasn't really his place to blurt something like that out. He'd have to provide some more… delicate answers.

"Sam, can I ask you a question?" His reprieve did not last as long as he'd hoped, they had barely been hanging out in the room for an hour.

Sam glanced up at the tv to see what the angel had been watching while he'd been trying to find as much information as he could about the employees that had quit. "You want to know why there's a show about the crap people leave in storage? Or why other people might want to buy all of someone else's abandoned crap?"

Castiel glanced at the TV and turned back to him with a frown. "They believe they will find something of monetary value in them. Sometimes they do make quite a bit more money than they spent to acquire it."

Well that distraction worked much better than anticipated.

"But that was not the question I wanted to ask you."

Or not so much. "Ok Cas, what's up?"

The angel looked a bit confused and a lot worried. It wasn't as if Sam couldn't guess what kind of question was about to come out."Do you think that I give off the impression of attraction towards others?" The angel asked.

Well it was a gentler question than he thought he'd have to answer. "Yeah, I think you do sometimes." He answered honestly. He held no hope that it would be the last question.

"How often do you think I do so?"

"It honestly depends, Cas. You unknowingly give those signals all the time. Some people pick up on it and some don't. I guess I only count the times when people see it." This is not exactly how he thought this conversation was likely to go. Not with bombs like eye contact and personal space being dropped. There was absolutely no way that even Castiel was that blind.

"Do you think it is a problem? Is that your true reasoning behind asking Marta to teach me more about it?" The look on the angel's face said that he honestly thought his ignorance of his own actions might be irritating to the brothers.

"What? No! It's not a problem, Cas. I honestly just thought you'd like to know." He closed his laptop and turned his full attention on the other man. "Most of the time we think it's funny, to be honest. Watching people hit on you, and you having no idea." He gave Castiel a gentle smile to try to make it up to him. He didn't want the angel to think he was making fun of him, but there wasn't really any other way to interpret that. "It's never affected any of our cases, so I guess we never really felt the need to clue you in."

Castiel seemed to accept that answer. He looked down and played with the edge of the blanket that was folded up under him. It was a nervous gesture and it was very telling. It wasn't like the angel to fall victim to nerves.

"Is there something else you wanted to ask me?" Sam asked, deciding he might as well get this part over with.

"Yes. I am trying to decide how to phrase my question." The angel looked more nervous with each passing second.

"Why don't you just try asking me the question you really want answered?"

A silence filled the room for several minutes. Sam didn't want to press too hard, and the angel seemed reluctant to ask the question on his mind. Sam could be patient.

"Sam, do you think Dean thinks I am attracted to him?" Well, that was not the direction of attraction that he'd anticipated being questioned.

"Well, aren't you?" Sam asked gently. He didn't really know how to do things like this gently, and Cas really didn't do well with subtlety anyway.

The angel's face was the picture of surprise for a few moments, until he ducked his head from Sam's line of sight. He could still see a redness creeping across the other's visage. Several moments of silence filled the room.

"Sam, I…" when he lifted his head again the redness had cleared and the angel just looked ashamed. Sam would not accept that.

"No Cas, it's fine! It's none of my business." He didn't know how to comfort the angel, but he knew he didn't want the other man to feel shame for being attracted to his brother. He jumped out of his seat to relocate next to the angel on the bed. After a moment of deliberation he threw his arm around the smaller man's shoulders. He was stiff as a board in Sam's arms, but that did not deter him.

He thought about his response for good long while before actually opening his mouth again. The angel slowly began to relax into his side, the anxiety of being called out slowly draining out of his shoulders.

"You remember a couple years ago? That whole Apocalypse thing?" Sam smiled down at his friend. As if any of them would ever be able to forget that. "Do you remember what we were fighting for? Team Free Will and all that." He felt the other man nod next to him. "I think that if anyone deserves to be able to do what they want, when they want, it's you Cas. We could never have done it without you. So, if you want to, you can fall in love with anyone you want. Up to, and including, my idiot brother."

"He's not an idiot." Castiel ducked his head again, and Sam was beginning to realize that it was a tell. Castiel was blushing again. Adorable.

"Well, I'm allowed my own opinion on that." He gave the other man a little squeeze before releasing him, and standing again. "If me and that idiot are going to be able to interview tomorrow then I have to finish doing this research. You can go back to pretending to watch tv while you work out the mysteries of the universe."

Castiel smiled up at him as he pushed himself back into his tv watching position. "Thank you, Sam"

And there was all that genuine gratefulness that had made Marta blush. Good thing Sam was a man who could not be swayed by the adorableness of the angel.

"Anytime, Cas."


	6. Dean and Charlie's Day Off

Sam was going to be pissed. He was spending the rest of his day with Castiel learning about body language, or whatever, while Dean and Charlie spent their time after lunch at the spa area of the hotel.

They were originally going to try to talk to the cook again and see if any of the stories he'd told Sam could actually be leads. When they arrived in the lobby area they'd seen some of the couples dressed in swimwear and talking excitedly at each other. It took only one question before they were bombarded with information about the spa services the hotel offered. They pretended to be interested while searching for a way out of the conversation. Or at least Dean thought that's what they were doing.

"Well, we have to go to the spa." Charlie said immediately after the group started on their way again. She grinned at Dean.

"I'm sorry, what?" Dean turned his incredulous gaze to his friend.

"Did you see how many people were in that group? How can we justify leaving that large of a group of people unguarded with a spook on the loose?" Her grin was reaching cheshire proportions.

"Charlie, we can't afford to do the spa. None of the previous attacks have happened there. Those people will probably be fine." Dean rolled his eyes at her and started looking for an indication of where the kitchen might be. They were supposed to be interviewing a witness.

"But how will we know they are safe if we're not there to make sure?" She was starting to sound a bit upset that Dean wasn't playing along with her plans.

"They'll be fine, Charlie." He rolled his eyes at her. "Seriously, being here this week cost a fortune already. Not to mention the room service…"

"Dean." She said it much too seriously and turned to face him head on, grabbing one of each of his shoulders in her hands. "I can hack your credit card later and take the charge off." And now Dean was paying attention.

"Are you sure?" He asked, but only because he was already feeling guilty about going to the spa without his brother and Cas. He knew she was fully capable of such a small adjustment.

"Of course." She nodded her head seriously as she said it. They stared into each other's eyes, taking in the gravity of the situation.

"Well, what the fuck are we waiting for then? Those people need protecting!" They raced all the way back up to their room, where they threw on their swim clothes as quickly as humanly possible, and then nearly skipped all the way down to the spa. Or whatever the manly version of that was.

The massage was maybe better then sex. It was, at the least, a thousand times better than magic fingers in a crappy motel. Dean was a giant puddle of goo that had somehow managed to reform in the common area. He was supposed to wait there for his next treatment, whatever it was. Charlie had made all the decisions on that front. If the massage was anything to go by, he'd be alright with whatever else she'd selected. Although, if he found himself with a green mask with cucumbers over his eyes, he might rethink that.

Speaking of the devil, he watched as Charlie strolled out of one of the other rooms and plopped into the giant, ridiculously comfortable chair next to his own. Her face was covered in a green mask, and he saw some cucumber slices in her hand. She grinned over at him before leaning back and placing them over her eyes.

"Yeah, that better not be on my list of treatments." He told her and she continued to grin.

"Don't worry, handsome. I would never upset your delicate sensibilities by making you suffer through something so girly. Although, your face could probably use the cleanse with all the nasty shit you boys are always getting into."

Charlie seemed to be trying to relax into the chair, so Dean did the same. He kicked back and watched the gently streaming fountain on the wall across from them. Almost instantly uninterested, he looked around at some of the other couples that were in the common area.

Everyone was wearing giant white robe. It was even more comfortable than the dead-guy robe Dean had waiting for him at home. Some of the couples were chatting with each other, and some of the couples had seemed to be split up like Dean and Charlie had been. There was one of the husbands a few chairs down from his own that seemed to have been left alone.

"What are you in for?" Dean asked him, as if they were in adjacent cells instead of this comfort haven.

"Whatever my wife decides I guess." The guy said with a shrug. He didn't even say it in a commiserating way. It was stated like a fact.

"Well, I hope you got the massage. It's awesome." Dean told him, grinning. The guy didn't even grin back. He just nodded at Dean's suggestion and then turned back to staring at the fountain again. Well that was a bit weird. Guess he wasn't the talkative type.

Dean looked around at the other couples again, then the fountain, then the weird guy, and then Charlie.

"Charlie, I'm fucking bored."

Charlie sighed and removed one of her cucumbers to glare at Dean. "We've been here like five minutes!"

"I was out here for a while before you got here." Dean protested. "And seriously, this is boring. What else am I signed up for?"

"I don't remember, Dean." She sighed again and removed her other cucumber. "I only signed you up for like three things. I'm sure they'll be back to get you soon."

Dean pouted. "But I'm bored now !"

"What exactly are you expecting me to do about it?" Charlie sat up in her chair and gave Dean her best face of irritation.

"Entertain me!" Dean said it as if it should have been obvious, and grinned at her. "Even the music is boring here."

Charlie leaned her head to the side, as if trying to listen to the music. It was a soothing almost rhythmless combination of flute and water sounds, or something. "Yeah ok. It is kind of boring. What do you want to do then?" The irritated look on her face reformed into a look of mischief. A much better look on her, in Dean's opinion.

"How much longer before you can wash that guacamole off your face?"

"It's been like five minutes, right? That's probably long enough. I think I'm supposed to wait until it dries, or something. If you find something better for us to do, though, I'll wash it off now..." She trailed off, raising her eyebrow challengingly.

Dean was instantly out of his chair and bounding to the appointment desk to find something more fun to do.

The lady at the desk looked startled as Dean dropped his arms on the counter top. He shot her his most winning smile in apology. "Sorry about that."

She looked up at him with a polite smile. "Is there something I can help you with, sir?"

"Is there anything a little more…. entertaining to do here?" He tried to make it sound he was just a little bored, instead of expressing the extreme level of boredom that he was actually experiencing. She just looked confused.

"I'm sorry? Is there something in particular that you wanted to sign up for?"

Dean rolled his eyes. "Well, I don't know. Is there anything fun to do?"

"Well there is an indoor swimming pool, near the…" Even her voice was boring. Dean couldn't even wait until the end of the sentence. He slapped his hands on the table again, and she startled just as hard as she had the first time.

"That'll work! Thanks!" Dean shoved away from the desk before the lady could say anything else. He grinned as he made his way back over to Charlie.

"Let's go swimming!"

It took no time at all to get Charlie's face cleaned up and into the pool. Dean cannon-balled in after her. He made the biggest, loudest splash that he physically could.

There was another couple in the room, relaxing silently in the hot tub. Dean wanted to scare them off as soon as possible. They were probably the type to glare a lot when people were being loud and having fun. Which were the only two things Dean was interested in doing right now.

"Dean! Was that necessary?" Charlie glared at him while jumping out of the way of the falling water. Her irritated face made Dean laugh. "I wasn't really planning to get my hair wet, you know."

"Are you being serious right now?" Dean made a face at her to show how displeased he was with that information. "I never pegged you for one of those girls." He said with as much distaste as he could muster.

Charlie just rolled her eyes at him, pushing her hair back from her face so he could see her glare better. "I'm not one of those girls. I just didn't want to have to smell the chlorine in my hair for the rest of the damn day." She squeezed the hair to try to get the little bit of water Dean had splashed into it out.

"Good. No wife of mine is going to be scared to get her hair wet." He told her, inching closer while she was distracted. As soon as she was within reach he hoisted her up into the air.

"No! Dean! No! I still don't want-" And that's as far as she got before he threw her.

He was laughing loudly by the time she resurfaced. She was so tiny she'd gotten pretty good air when he'd thrown her. The look on her face after she wiped her eyes was unexpected, though. There was clearly a mischievous glint in them.

"I thought I made it clear the other day that I was not to be trifled with, darling." Her tone was sickeningly sweet and Dean was suddenly reminded of the leg sweep she had hit him with the morning before.

At least if they duked it out in the pool it was less likely that someone would get hurt. He barely had time to think that before she was on him. Her smaller frame didn't seem to matter when it was attached to his back, and when she kicked at the back of his knees, he went down. She shoved him under the water and then wisely backed away from him as he flailed for the surface.

Dean spit a mouthful of water and rubbed the rest out of his eyes. "Why, you little shit!" He was honestly pretty surprised at the ease at which she had been able to dunk him. She was a wily one.

They wrestled for dominance in the pool, and Dean lost more of those battles than he cared to admit. Although, it was pretty hilarious when Charlie would resurface with a red curtain over her face. The laughter only increased when she flipped the hair back over her head, giving her a ridiculous wave arching up from her face. If anyone ever asked, Dean would say that all the laughter was distracting him and that's the only reason she had managed to best him as many times as she had.

Exhausted from all the activity they finally called a truce and just grinned at each other for a minute. It was really nice to just have a bit of fun for once. And neither of them had actually been drowned, so that was a bonus.

Dean glanced in the direction of the hot tub, just to make sure they had effectively scared the other couple away. They should probably talk about the case, at least, since they clearly were not going to be able to interview the cook again today. Surprisingly, the other couple was still there, though. Instead of the glaring looks of disapproval Dean had expected, the other couple was grinning. They were quite clearly enjoying the show.

"Oh, don't stop on our account." The woman waved a hand in a dismissive gesture.

"Actually, I was thinking it was probably better to stop before she actually drowned me." Dena told her, grinning back. The comment earned him a grin from Charlie before her mask of fake seriousness came down again.

"Yes, I only married him for the life insurance policy, you know." Charlie said haughtily. She waved an insolent hand in Dean's direction.

"Darling, I don't have a life insurance policy." Dean said, regrettably. He cringed in a way that said he feared the retribution of not telling her sooner.

"Oh my god. What have I done?" Charlie looked appropriately spooked.

"Hey! That look had better just be really good acting!" Dean was appropriately offended. The laughter that escaped from Charlie at the remark was contagious and soon everyone was laughing.

"You guys are fun." The woman looked intrigued, and Dean figured that maybe they had spent too much time with the other couples. The emotionless man from earlier coming to mind.

"I'm Sarah, and this is Matt." She introduced them. Her husband gave a little smile and wave.

"This little ball of fire is Charlie." Dean said, rubbing his hand back and forth through Charlie's hair like he used to do to Sam when he was smaller. He received a fierce glare in return. "And I'm Dean." He nodded his head toward them.

"It's nice to meet another couple that aren't robots." Sarah said, looking toward the door as if afraid that the humanoids would be able to overhear her.

"I know right!" Dean was so surprised that she felt the same way about the other couples that he responded automatically. "I honestly thought one guy was going to start spouting zeros and ones at me!" The other couple chuckled at that.

"You know…." Matt said, glancing back and forth like he was about to divulge a secret, "I saw a net and a volley ball over in the closet…"

Dean could barely contain his excitement at the prospect. "Well what are you waiting for? Let's get that sucker set up!"

They ended up hanging out with Matt and Sarah much longer than expected. They were having a blast, and right around five o'clock the hotel staff had asked if they wanted anything to drink. Adding booze to the equation had been a terrible idea. It didn't take long before the game fell apart.

By the time they got out of the pool they were all laughing and joking like old friends. Dean picked up him fluffy white robe, and when his phone fell out, he knew they were in trouble. Twelve missed calls from Sam. "Shit!"

Charlie gave him a look of concern, but when she saw the indicator on his phone the color drained from her face. She quickly looked at her own phone and noticed a significant amount of missed calls on hers as well. Not to mention that it was almost seven at night.

"Crap. If we don't hurry up, we're going to miss dinner." Matt was a man with his priorities straight, and Dean would have shared in the sentiment if it weren't for the cool tendrils of dread curling in his stomach.

He shot a quick text to Sam to let him know they were okay, and just hadn't heard the phone. He knew that the relief his brother was likely to feel from knowing they were safe was likely to have worn off by the time that Dean actually saw him. Sam would be furious with him for making him think something terrible had happened. To make matters worse, the only excuse Dean would have for not hearing his phone would be that he was too busy having fun at the damn spa . They were so dead. The look on Charlie's face said that she knew it, too.


	7. Slumbering Angel

Sam received the text message from his brother right in the nick of time. He and Castiel had nearly searched the entire hotel. He hadn't even tried to call his brother until almost five, which meant he hadn't actually heard from his brother in almost seven hours by the time he got the text.

It wasn't like they were not allowed to have time to themselves, but they had spent the better part of their lives with only each other to rely on. It was reflex to always know where the other was and what they were doing. If Dean had been captured it wouldn't be that strange. It wasn't like it would be the first time, and certainly wouldn't be the last. But the longer he was missing, the greater the chance that something horrible was happening to him.

It always seemed that Sam had to rescue his brother right before something awful happened. Up to and including his imminent demise. Dean seemed to find himself in those situations much more often than anyone should. Somehow, it had become Sam's job to save his crazy ass.

It didn't help matters that Castiel was not handling it well. He had been a giant pain from the moment they had realized that Dean was missing until the moment they found out he was safe. He had gone so far as to bribe a copy of the key to the other room. When they still hadn't found anything on the missing pair, he had almost broken into the Impala to get the FBI badges. Sam hadn't let him blow their cover, but it had been a close call.

The second they had confirmation that the other couple was safe the angel had relaxed. Although he didn't unwind fully until Dean actually stepped into the bedroom, confirming that he was alive and well for their own eyes to see.

The argument about Dean and Charlie spending the day at the spa lasted throughout the time it took them to eat the sandwiches the cook had kindly allowed them to make out of the leftovers from dinner.

Dean looked more guilty every time Sam mentioned how upset Castiel had been, so he made sure to bring it up as often as possible. Every time he mentioned the angel, Dean would glance over and cringe at the look on Castiel's face. The angel didn't say much, but he didn't have to. He could guilt trip like the sweetest of kicked puppies with his big blue eyes alone.

Charlie didn't seem to fare much better with the look, although she seemed to be more bothered by the fact that Dean was distressed about it. Like she knew how Dean felt about the angel and she was only upset that she had been party to getting Dean in trouble with him.

Her knowledge of Dean's fondness was information that Sam had not been privy to before. It might actually come in handy with his efforts to make Castiel and Dean realize their affection for each other. If he and Charlie could get together and work on making Dean acknowledge his feelings, they might actually be able to get somewhere. Castiel clearly had less reservations about recognizing his emotion for the hunter, so he would only have to be convinced of Dean's returned feelings.

The more Sam thought about Dean and Charlie ditching their post, the less mad he became. It was seriously irritating that they hadn't told Sam where they were, and left him to worry about them. But it turned out it was actually really nice to see his brother put his self proclaimed duty aside to have a little fun. It wasn't like it was a habit, and Sam was sure it wouldn't become one either. Dean took the family business too seriously.

"It's fine. Whatever, Dean." Sam sighed, letting his brother and their friend off the hook. "Did you learn anything while you were there, at least?"

The look on Dean's face clearly said they had not. "I learned that the spa is fucking boring."

Charlie cringed before she answered. "I learned that a bored Dean is a dangerous thing."

"That is very helpful. Thank you." Sam drawled sarcastically and rolled his eyes. "Well, at least we'll get something accomplished tomorrow." He turned his laptop so that the other occupants of the room could see what he had been working on.

"I found locations for all of the employees that left after people started falling into a coma. We can head out in the morning and do some interviews."

Sam was surprised at six in the morning when there was a knock at the door. Gently prying the angel glued to his side off of himself, he went to check it out. Through the peephole he saw his brother. He frowned as he opened it.

Dean was already decked out in his fake FBI suit, and looked like he had been up for some time already.

"What the hell are you doing up so early?" He asked, stepping aside to let his brother into the room, and shutting the door softly behind him. He saw no reason to force Castiel to give up on his unneeded sleep quite so early.

"I've been sleeping like a baby for days." Dean glanced around the room for a moment before his eyes landed on the lump still laying in the bed. "I guess I'm finally caught up or something. Couldn't sleep passed five." He shrugged his shoulders as if it didn't really matter. "Is Cas sleeping?"

Sam glanced toward the bed he had recently vacated. "I think he's pretending to sleep."

Dean nodded his head in understanding, but the look on his face showed that he was not happy. "You guys are sharing the bed?" He asked nonchalantly.

"Yeah. If the guy wants to rest up at night, who am I to tell him he can't be comfortable." Although Sam had anticipated his brother's reaction to finding out they had been sharing a bed, he didn't see a reason to antagonize him about it.

Dean hummed and turned his gaze away from the slumbering angel.

"Just give me like twenty and I'll be ready." Sam told him, grabbing his FBI suit out of the closet and heading for the shower.

When he came out of the bathroom fifteen minutes later he found his brother seated on one of the bar stools watching the lump in the comforter that was Castiel. The only visible part of the angel was the mess of black hair poking out from the top of the blankets. He decided not to mention the fact that Dean had probably been staring the entire time he'd been gone.

He dropped his sleep clothes into the slowly growing pile of dirty laundry in the corner, and grabbed his dress shoes out of the closet, setting them on his place in the bed. He then pulled a pair of black socks out of the drawer where he had stored them. He didn't miss the look his brother threw at him upon discovering that he had bothered to unpack. He chose to ignore it.

Sam grabbed his shoes and sat on his side of the bed to put them on, barely missing the angel still in bed.

"Cas, geeze! I almost sat on you. Get back to your side of the bed!" He huffed a small laugh at the irritated grunt he received as he shoved at the lump over so he didn't risk squashing any body parts.

"This side is warmer." Castiel had a grumpy tone and refused to budge.

The hunter shook his head as he finished putting his socks and shoes on. He glanced up to share his amusement with his brother and was greeted by a scowl.

Sam then realized his mistake. The angel was clearly seeking Sam's body heat. There was no way that Dean wasn't going to put two and two together. It wasn't as if his brother had never been forced to suffer through sharing a bed with him, and all that it entailed.

Sam took a deep breath and forced the amused smile to remain on his lips. The best way to handle Dean most of the time was to pretend that you had no idea he was even upset about something. He had no illusions that before the end of the day he would be questioned about the situation. He also knew that it wouldn't be anytime soon.

"Alright let's get this party started."

He headed toward the door, hearing Dean hop off his stool and follow him. Before they left an idea struck him.

"Cas, you better get up soon. You don't want to leave Charlie down at breakfast by herself do you?"

There was a noise of supreme irritation from the bed in response.

"I guess now we know why angels shouldn't sleep." Sam commented as they stepped out. There was the soft sound of a pillow hitting the door behind them.

It wasn't until the drive to the third witness's house that Dean finally got around to asking him about the sleeping arrangements in their room.

"So, you guys are sharing the bed, huh?" Once again the question seemed offhand, but it wasn't fooling Sam at all.

"Yep." He watched Dean's eyebrow twitch.

"So, I guess he knows about your little problem , then?" Sam hoped he was talking about his cuddling. The way he said it made it sound like Sam murdered people in his sleep instead.

"Yeah, I think he's gotten that bit figured out." He didn't see any reason to mention that the angel seemed to quite enjoy that part of sharing a bed.

"He's not weirded out by it?" Dean seemed to be trying to choose his words wisely, and Sam decided not to mention it.

"Nope." He sighed a bit when his brother's shoulders tensed at the word. "Dean, you know that Cas doesn't have all the hang ups that come with growing up human. He's not bothered by sharing a bed with another man."

"Sam, he's an angel. His vessel is a man. Isn't it a sin for a man to lay with another man?" Dean hadn't removed his eyes from the road since they had begun this conversation and Sam was under the impression that it was his way of distancing himself from it.

He honestly didn't know how to answer this question. He felt like an opportunity was being laid out for him, but he knew if he didn't handle it the right way his brother would be spooked off.

"I'm not sure that is exactly what the bible was talking about." He tried not to make it sound like he was now the one choosing his words carefully. "Besides, Cas said that most of the stuff from the bible was wrong."

That comment got a quick glance from Dean before his eyes snapped back to the road ahead of them. Sam waited patiently, hoping that he hadn't fucked everything up already.

"You don't think Cas has a problem with that kind of thing?"

"Dude. Do you really think he would pretend to be engaged to a guy for a week if he did? Even for the sake of a case, I don't think he'd put aside all of his views. I don't think he cares one way or the other about sexual orientation."

The silence that descended after that comment wasn't uncomfortable, but it wasn't entirely comfortable either. There was an unfinished quality to the conversation, but Sam could wait it out as long as he needed to.

It was a little weird trying to hook his brother up with his best friend. It wasn't really any of his business what his brother did with his love life. That is until it started interrupting Sam's life.

When they were just staring longingly at each other it had been annoying, but ultimately it hadn't affected Sam at all. He would just roll his eyes and ignore it. When it had progressed to staring contests between the two of them, he had taken it upon himself to distract them. He would practically yell one of their names, or edge his way into their line of sight. It wasn't really until the effects of ignoring their feelings started to take hold that Sam got really bothered at all.

It wasn't long before their attraction had become a kind of depression. With both of them denying the way they felt and no resolution in sight. That's when Sam started to really pay attention. It was becoming clearer as the months went by that what Dean felt for the angel went quite a bit deeper than simple attraction. And you'd have to be blind not to see that the feeling that Castiel had for the hunter went much deeper than just protecting his charge. Especially as he had chosen to follow the Winchesters even when it went against the will of heaven.

If his brother wanted to pretend like he wasn't attracted to another dude, that was fine, but when it became clear that his feelings ran a lot deeper, Sam couldn't just stand idly by any longer. They had spent so much time dancing around each other and refusing to acknowledge the attraction they both felt, and Sam just wanted to see them happy. This case was turning into the perfect opportunity to finally do something to change it.

Dean finally found something to say. "Why don't you have a problem with it? You were raised with all those human hang ups that you say Cas doesn't have."

"It doesn't bother me either way. I like to think I am pretty open minded about these things." Sam shrugged as if it didn't really matter, mostly because it really didn't.

"It's different being open minded about that stuff and actively participating in it." Dean finally turned to look at him. He seemed to be trying to gauge Sam's reaction.

"I think you might be the only person that thinks that cuddling is sexual. I have cuddled with plenty of people that I had no sexual interest in." Sam rolled his eyes at his brother to let him know he was an idiot.

Dean turned back to the road before he asked the question. "Like Cas?"

"Yeah, like Cas. Do you really think there is something going on between us just because we chose to share a bed on this case?" Sam allowed his disbelief to be heard in his voice.

"No, not really. I just think its weird is all." He said it like he couldn't care less either way.

"What's so weird about it?"

"It's two fully grown dudes, Sam. What's not weird about that?"

Sam's frustrations with his brother almost took hold of him. Dean was having such a hard time getting over his issues, he couldn't even accept that they were not things that mattered to everyone. If he couldn't get passed even that, how the hell was Sam going to convince him to give them up long enough to figure out the happiness that could be had with his angel?

"What difference does that make? It's not gay to share a bed with another guy. And if I was gay, would it still be weird?"

"But you're not gay, Sam."

"How do you know?" Dean actually turned away from his staring contest with the windshield at that. He quickly turned back, and was lost in thought for a moment.

"Are you gay? You've never said anything before." Dean looked uncomfortable with the way the conversation was going, but Sam hoped it was more discomfort at the idea that there was a huge part of Sam's life that he knew nothing about rather than at the idea that Sam might be involved in that lifestyle.

"I don't know." He shrugged and turned away from his brother. He knew in this part of the conversation it would be difficult to hide his reactions.

"How can you not know?"

"How can I say I don't like something if I've never tried it?" He was immediately glad of his foresight to turn away from his brother's gaze. He cringed as he said that. It sounded like a line you gave to someone who didn't want to try something new.

"I don't think that's quite how it works with sexual orientation." Dean huffed a relieved sounding breath.

"Well, I'd like to think that if I found myself falling in love with a guy, I'd be able to put up all the bullshit and give it a shot. Is it really worth missing out on something great, just because you think you like things a certain way?" Sam didn't even realize at first that he had switched to referring to what his brother should do rather than himself.

His eyes met his brother's and he could see that Dean understood that they had never really been talking about Sam. The look on was a mixture of relief, horror, and realization that looked almost painful. The mask of indifference quickly replaced it, but it wasn't quick enough.

The car was filled with silence again as they pulled in front of the last witness's house. Dean didn't say a word as he removed himself from the situation, roughly slamming the door behind himself in finality. That conversation was apparently over.


	8. Angel Trauma

Dean was a mess of emotions. He hated emotions. They made the job nearly impossible. He barely heard a word the witness told them, and could only hope that Sam had been paying more attention.

What the hell did Sam think he was doing making all those comments? And he had actually gotten Dean to participate in whatever shit he was trying to pull. There for a minute he'd thought that Sam had really been in the middle of some kind of sexual identity crisis. The whole time he had just been messing with Dean. Maybe he had made a couple of good points, but Dean was not ready to concede that yet.

What business did Sam have in Dean's love life anyway? And how the hell did he know about Dean's fears? It wasn't like he went around advertising them.

Sam didn't know anything, anyway. Dean wasn't really afraid of Castiel being a man. He was really trying to accept that part of himself, and he was doing a fairly decent job of it - if the recent additions to his porn collection were any indication. Dean was afraid of so much more than just his gender.

The part that really wormed it's way into his thought process wasn't that Sam seemed to know of his attraction to the angel. Whatever. Even Charlie seemed to know about that. At least Cas still seemed to be in the dark. That wasn't what Dean was really upset about.

Sam had said love. 'If he had fallen in love with a guy'. If his brother had insinuated that he knew that Dean was attracted to a dude, he'd be able to deal with that. Love was a different story. Love was much bigger and scarier than any amount of being attracted to the same sex.

When they left the last witness's house, Dean was aware that he had not absorbed any of the information that had been offered. He didn't even care. All of the accounts had been the same, and it was unlikely that he had missed anything important.

He slid into the driver's seat and stared resolutely out of the windshield at the road ahead. It would be some time before he gathered enough courage to speak to his brother again. Sam knew too much for Dean's own good, it seemed.

When they pulled back into the drive for the hotel they were greeted by an ambulance and a fire truck. That could not be good. Dean met his brother's eyes across the distance they had established for the ride home. They could finish that awkward silent treatment another time. They both jumped out of the car, slamming their doors and heading toward the hotel lobby at a quickened pace.

They knew that Charlie and Castiel were involved in whatever was scheduled for the day, being the only two left to do it. They shared a look of near panic as they spotted the paramedics through the glass doors that lead to the area the where groups were usually held.

They crashed through the doors at an alarming speed, if the startled looks of the other occupants were any indication. They spotted their friends off to the side, separated from the rest of the crowd. They both looked fine, and while the brother's could breathe a sigh of relief they still rushed to their side.

"Are you guys alright?" Dean asked, surreptitiously checking the angel for damage.

"What happened?" Sam asked them at the same time.

"There was another attack. We saw the whole thing." Charlie told them excitedly. Her face fell almost immediately. "Although, it was exactly the same as everyone has already said it was."

"Are you okay, though?" Dean asked again. The angel was looking at him oddly, and the hunter wanted to make sure that he hadn't been affected by the… well whatever the hell they were dealing with.

"Yes. I'm fine." Castiel told him.

"Yeah, I'm fine, too." Charlie told him, raising her eyebrows in a mocking way when he finally turned in her direction.

Dean realized then why the angel was looking at him the way he was. The hunter was standing right beside him, invading his personal space. He had one hand on Castiel's arm, while the other had settled on his back. As if the other man might be faint. Like one little spook could take out an angel. Jesus, he really needed to get ahold of himself. The smug smile on Sam's face when he turned his way did not help matters.

"Maybe you should go make sure your wife is alright. I think I can handle this." Sam lifted the hand off Castiel's back, giving Dean a little shove, and maneuvered himself into the space opened by the removal of his brother.

Dean turned his sheepish gaze to Charlie who looked more amused than upset. "Get your priorities straight, darling." She told him, the ghost of a smirk crossing her face.

It wasn't until after dinner that the group had a chance to talk about what happened. The paramedics had questions, the police had questions, and then the hotel had put out an early spread for dinner. They probably just hoped the other guests would not be scared off by whatever was dropping bodies in the hotel. It had been a real feast, and Dean had indulged in all the foods they rarely had a chance to dine on.

It was with a belly full of lobster and steak and the best damn pecan pie he'd ever had, that they returned to Sam and Castiel's room. He plopped himself into one of the table height chairs near the window. He honestly didn't think he'd even be able to make it up into one of the bar stools with his current bloat.

"They really know how to treat trauma victims around here."

Charlie laughed as she plopped down into the other chair. "You didn't even see anything! You got all the benefits, and none of the trauma!"

Dean rolled his eyes at the acting of his partner. "Were you traumatized?"

"Highly. I'll have you know Castiel and I will have to go through major counseling after watching What's-his-face get attacked." Charlie really dialed up the dramatic flair, clutching a hand to her chest in heartfelt upset.

"What's-his-face? Does he have a last name? That first name is a bit of a mouthful." Dean laid out the sarcasm thickly.

"Old What's-his-face Go-fuck-yourself. He was my best friend!" She kicked Dean under the table to make her point.

They both cracked up, and Dean even saw his brother chuckle a bit from his place at the bar. Dean was just glad to lose some of the tension he'd been holding since the talk in the car. His brother could probably do with a bit of stress relief as well.

"So tell us about what happened today. I mean, did you see anything you didn't tell the cops about?" Of course his brother was a buzz kill, and went straight back to the case instead.

Charlie seemed to give it a little thought before she answered. "It is definitely not a ghost, I can tell you that. I've never heard of a ghost like that before. Or a demon. It was just like a cloud of greyish smoke. It just swooped in and out of him really quickly and he dropped. Then it was just gone."

"In and out of him?" That sounded weird.

"Yeah, It looked like it went in through his nose, and maybe his mouth too. It didn't force his mouth open like possession. It just flowed in and out like he was breathing it. Super weird." Apparently, Charlie thought along the same lines.

"Did you get a read off of it, Cas?" Of course Sam was the one that thought to ask the only supernatural being in the room what he thought.

"I agree that it is not either of our earlier deductions. I would have been able to sense if it was. I believe we might be dealing with a god of some sort."

"Great. My favorite. What the hell would a god be doing hanging around a hotel putting people into comas?" Dean sighed. He fucking hated dealing with gods. They were always so full of themselves. And whatever this god was stealing from these people was probably something that they used to freely sacrifice. The god was pretty unlikely to give it back.

"That I do not know. The intentions that I sensed did not seem hostile." Well, it wouldn't seem hostile if the god was just taking what it felt it deserved.

"What happened before he got hit?"

"Nothing! Everything was perfectly normal. We were all just sitting around talking about the things we like about each other. Which was fairly awful, so thanks for abandoning us with that activity." Charlie glared at the brothers. "They kept looking at us like we were fucking nuts. Even after I told them that you guys had a family emergency and Cas just wanted to see what the group was about. They just kept looking at me like I was some kind of fiancé stealing harlot." Dean just rolled his eyes at her. It wasn't like they chose that day just to cause her heartache.

She continued her story. "Anyway, What's-his-face's wife had just told him she liked that he had a job that made it possible for them to buy nice things. He seemed upset that she said it, and he got up to leave, and Boom! That smoke came out of nowhere and just knocked him out."

"Wait. You said he was angry at his wife?" Sam asked her intently.

"I don't know. He seemed to be upset. Why?"

"That's not the first account I've heard where the victim was angry about something right before an attack." Sam shuffled through the case paperwork on the bar, sifting out the stack of witness accounts they had acquired.

"This one says her and her husband were in the middle of an argument, and he had just stepped out onto the balcony to get some air when he was attacked. And that guy we interviewed today said that other couple had been fighting the entire trip. Remember Dean?"

Dean did not even bother to answer him. That wasn't one of the stories he remembered, so it was probably that last witness they had talked to. The one that he hadn't heard to a single word the guy had said. He glared hard at his brother instead. Sam seemed to understand the look and moved on quickly.

"Uh yeah, well at least we are getting somewhere with a connection between victims. We should interview the other victims' spouses and make sure."

The hospital that the victims were being carted off to wasn't far, and Dean and his brother got there just before visiting hours ended. Luckily, they had the foresight to bring their FBI badges with them, and were still permitted in to interview the partners of the previous victims. They would only have to avoid the one couple that had been at the hotel at the same time they had. It didn't take long, and they actually got to move a couple of steps forward.

Finally they were making it somewhere on this stupid case. All of the victim's spouses had confirmed that they had been arguing right before the attacks. Some took a little more pressing before they admitted it, but they had all eventually confirmed it. They finally had a connection between the cases. Now they just had to figure out what that connection actually meant.

Although it was mostly the other witness' accounts that tied it all together, those in combination with what the spouses had admitted to painted a very strange picture. The victims were in the middle of arguments with their significant others at the time. Their spouses had all said or told them something particularly upsetting. They had tried to escape the situation by stepping out of the room, and that's when they were attacked. Unless there was a god of running away from your problems Dean didn't really have a guess on what kind of god they could be dealing with.

The day hadn't been a total bust. Even if Dean had to spend it with his little brother being annoying the whole time. Not that Sam had even said anything further about any of the stuff they had talked about in the car. He just raised his eyebrow a lot, and looked way too smug for Dean's liking. Seriously annoying. They had far more clues than when the day started, and at least they got to end the day on a high note.

Dean was being sneaky. He left the room very early the next morning to work out his dastardly plan. He knew Castiel had managed to bribe the girl at the front desk into getting a copy of his room key, and he had every intention of doing the same to get into his brother's room. Getting the key ended up being no problem at all, and as Dean was faced with the door to his brother's room, Charlie finally caught up to him.

He wasn't really able to tell her his reasoning for wanting to sneak in while the others were still sleeping, so he just allowed her to come with him. He shushed her to let her know that they were going to surprise the occupants. Charlie seemed confused, but more than willing to play along with Dean's schemes. He knew there was a reason he loved her.

They were as quiet as possible as they slipped into the room. Dean knew that even though his brother was probably sleeping soundly, any amount of noise was likely to wake him. They had grown up hunters, and it didn't take but one odd noise to wake either of them.

As they approached the bed, Dean's worst fears were confirmed. His angel was wrapped securely within his brother's arms. He'd known what he was likely to see, but was somehow still surprised. It probably had more to do with the fact that Castiel seemed to be actively participating in the embrace, instead of being unwillingly mauled as Dean had been picturing it.

Instead of the image of an angel actively trying to escape the overly large limbs of his brother, he witnessed a man curled into the warmth of his brother's chest. Instead of looking suffocated and in need of a rescue, Castiel looked content. This was what people called a 'worst case scenario'.

He didn't know what emotion was showing on his face at the sight, but it couldn't have been good. Charlie showed real concern before she forced her face into a more cheerful look and proceeded to take charge of the situation.

"There's cuddling in this room?" A grin spread across her face as the two men on the bed instantly snapped awake. "There's no cuddling in my room." She hopped onto the end of the bed and began bouncing her way toward the top to join them.


	9. Angel Cuddles

It took a moment for Sam's brain to boot up and realize what Charlie was doing. He was immediately grateful when he saw the near apocalyptic look his brother was sporting. He lifted up the blanket and managed to pull himself away from his clingy bedmate. Charlie promptly took over the space he'd been in, pulling the covers back up and around herself and then draping them back over him, wrapping her arm around him as well.

Castiel looked completely perplexed by the new addition to the bed, and while Sam wrapped himself around the much smaller woman he allowed his hand to land on the angel now behind her.

"What's a girl gotta do to get some cuddles, angel?" Charlie said as she rearranged herself comfortably in Sam's arms. Sam even pulled at the angel a little to get the point across.

He hoped Castiel would catch on, and was relieved when the look of understanding crossed his face. He silently arranged himself on Charlie's other side, allowing Sam's long reach to wrap around them both. The look on the angel's face even sank back into the look of contentment it seemed to have whenever he was being held. Sam watched him cuddle up behind Charlie, letting his face sink into her hair and closing his eyes again. Sam was impressed, although he knew the angel wasn't acting.

Not that Sam was acting like he liked to cuddle. He loved it. At this particular moment, though, he was mostly cuddling the redhead in order to hopefully placate his brother. If he could show his brother he was just a cuddle whore, then his embrace with Castiel didn't have to mean anything untoward. And he was sure that Charlie was worming her way between them to prove to Dean that it didn't mean anything sexual at all. The angel was not pacifying anyone though. He just genuinely wanted to cuddle.

"Wow! You guys really know how to cuddle." The redhead between them seemed genuinely surprised by the thought.

"I'm a professional." Sam told her seriously.

"I can tell." Her voice held only amusement, and she nuzzled deeper into their embrace, as if she couldn't get enough.

Sam chanced a glance at his brother, still standing at the end of the bed. The look on his face hadn't changed as much as Sam would have liked. Although, Dean's expression changed drastically when the angel asked him a question.

"Dean, would you like to 'cuddle' with us?" The angel asked, emphasizing the word oddly, as if he had never used it before. He didn't even open his eyes as he added, "It is very comfortable."

Sam's eyes met Charlie's and they shared a look of astonishment. The angel might accomplish what neither of them had even dared to think about. Sam glanced at his brother again to gauge his reaction.

Dean's face showed only surprise now. The thought of joining the group on the bed had probably never even occurred to him. It would be the perfect excuse to put his arms around the angel, and Sam sincerely hoped that his brother would use it.

"Um, no thanks." Dean had a strain in his voice and Sam wondered if it was due to not allowing himself the opportunity, or that he was trying to make sure he didn't seem as pissed off as he had been only a few seconds before. "I think there are already enough people in that little love fest you have going on over there."

Sam's eyes met Charlie's again and they were both disappointed. Charlie's face turned calculating for a second before she spoke.

"Don't worry. We can make space for you." She said, as she started pushing Sam back and scooting in closer. If they all moved that direction, there would be space. Right behind Castiel.

"Yeah, don't bother. Some of us still have a case to work. And I am not missing breakfast to have a cuddle party." He huffed out an annoyed breath, and headed toward the door. " You guys have fun though." He didn't even slam the door on his way out.

Castiel had nullified his brother's fury in a way that Sam could never have even hoped to. One question had turned Dean from a monster on the verge of fratricide to the slightly irritated man that had neatly excused himself from the situation. Angels really could perform miracles.

At breakfast it was decided that both couples would attend the group of the day. They were all armed in some way, just in case anything happened. Not that they knew what they were dealing with, or if salt rounds would have any effect on the god. Or holy water, or the demon knife. Yeah, they weren't planning to lose a chance to test some of their best weapons out on the thing either.

The group was called 'conversation starters' and none of them had any hope that it wouldn't be awkward as hell. It was supposed to open a couple's dialogue, whatever that meant. They were not looking forward to it, but they all knew that the case was more important than their own discomfort and had resigned themselves to participating. They would just have to keep an eye out for any suspicious smoke, or whatever.

Both of the other couples their group had made friends with had decided to participate in this group. As soon as they entered, Dean plopped himself into the empty chair next to Matt and they began a long and serious discussion about the fruit bar that had been included with the breakfast buffet that morning. Mostly about how ridiculous it had been and how they hadn't had pancakes and french toast because the stupid fruit had been taking up too much space.

Sam rolled his eyes at the ridiculous conversation, and watched as Harry pulled Castiel into the empty seat next to him. For some reason Derek and Harry seemed to be completely fascinated by the angel. The dude barely talked, hardly smiled, and was grumpy as hell in the morning. The youngest Winchester did not see how he could have made friends with the other men so quickly, but they genuinely seemed to like him.

There were, conveniently, two empty seats between the hunter and the angel, and Sam and Charlie shared a grin as they sat. Now that they were aware that they were on the same side, they would hopefully get to use today's group to help their fight.

"Alright group! Let's get started." It looked like Marta was running the group again. "The purpose of today's group is to help open a dialogue between couples. We will discuss some of the questions in group, and then we will leave you a list of some of the more private things for you to do in your leisure." She pointed to a stack of papers on a table near the door. "Let's start with an easy one. Tell me what you all wanted to be when you grew up. This is one of those things that gets lost as you get older, unless you were able to pursue that career. I believe that it says a lot about a person when you find out what they wanted to be." She smiled at the group. "Let's start to my right and just go around the circle."

"I'm Derek. I wanted to be a race car driver when I grew up." Derek grinned at Harry's completely shocked expression. "All my father did when I was a kid was watch the races. I guess I thought it would make him proud or something." He shrugged.

Harry nodded and smiled at his husband before he took his turn. "I'm Harry, and I wanted to be a cop." He grinned at the group. "Turns out that I'm a bit too queer for the force. After about the third time they told me to be less flamboyant, they then asked me to leave the academy. Once I realized they wouldn't be able to accept me, I turned away and never looked back."

Well this exercise was actually a lot sadder than Sam had originally thought it would be. It sucks giving up on your dreams. Especially if you only had those dreams to make someone else proud of you.

Sam spared a glance at Castiel and could see blind fear in his eyes. No way had he had time to come up with something, it was too short notice. Shit shit shit. How the hell were they going to save him? And it was his turn.

"I'm Cas…"Sam cleared his throat before the angel could say his full name. "I never thought about growing up. I thought I would be the same forever." Sam jumped in quickly, hoping that it wouldn't seem too rude. He was just glad Castiel hadn't said anything too weird.

"I'm Sam, and I wanted to be a superhero. I was obsessed with justice and punishing evil. I wanted to help the world." He'd gotten the chance too, but it hadn't been the way he'd always dreamed. Somehow jumping into hell while you were possessed by Lucifer hadn't been in any of the comics.

"I'm Charlie, and I wanted to be a princess." She grinned and Sam's mood lightened considerably. "That is until I figured out I would have to marry a prince, and that just seemed boring." Sam suddenly remembered their trip to Moondor and had to hold back a snicker. She was already a queen, She didn't need to be a princess.

"Uh, I'm Dean." Dean always seemed so uncomfortable when it came to speaking to a group like this. "I wanted to be a fireman." He didn't elaborate, but their little group seemed to droop a little after the admission. Of course Dean had wanted to be a fireman. He had lost his mother to a fire at a very young age. Dean gestured quickly to the man beside him and remained silent in his seat while the rest of the group answered the question.

"What would your childhood self think of you now?" Marta asked the group, which was about the perfectly wrong direction to go in for their little group. Sam couldn't even stop the face he made at that question. He looked at Castiel to make sure he was going to be able to come up with an answer to that question. The angel nodded and waited for his turn.

"My younger self would be very disappointed in me." Sam did not like the way that sounded, but he remembered old stick-in-the-ass Castiel and had to admit that was probably true. "I was raised to believe certain things, and that rules were made to be obeyed. There was no straying from the pack, or so I was lead to believe. I now believe that I am on my true life's journey, but if my younger self could see me, he would not like the choices I have made. He wouldn't even understand the idea of having choices to make, really."

"Well, younger Cas was a bit of an idiot." Dean grinned at the angel as if he was trying to cheer him up.

"That he was." Castiel agreed he even sent a small smile back to the hunter. He gestured that Sam should take his turn.

"My younger self probably wouldn't understand the choices I have made that lead me here, either. He expected that we would be doing something completely different. He probably thought we would have a wife and kids by now. Things don't always work out the way you think they will when you're a kid, though." Sam smiled at Castiel as he said that, and then sent a grin to his brother. Yeah, his reasoning had more to do with the family business than any amount of gay love for the angel, but he was still in a role.

"My younger self would think I was totally awesome." Charlie added, unapologetically. "I am nowhere near where I thought I would be at this age, but I know my younger self would think where I am is still pretty cool. She had it pretty tough for a while, and she'd be happy to see me surrounded by family and friends." Charlie shrugged to indicate that she was done.

"My younger self would probably hate me." Dean said, and gave no indication that he had anything else to say.

"Don't be ridiculous, Dean. Your younger self would think that you are a total badass." Sam rolled his eyes at his brother. He remembered what young Dean was like.

"Yeah, there are some things about me that he would like, but there are plenty of things about me that he would not like at all." Dean glared at him, and was probably trying to convey something about hell, or any of the times he had failed to save someone. Sam wasn't having any of that though.

"You are a good man, despite your faults. No one is perfect."

Dean huffed and turned his head, unwilling to agree, but also unwilling to go into details in the middle of the group.

"Have you two always been so defensive of each other?" Marta asked, seemingly intrigued by the new dynamic. She was probably only used to families that hated each other.

"Yes." Charlie and Castiel answered for them, causing the woman to raise her brows.

"As their partners, have you ever felt intimidated by this connection?" She asked them, not hiding her interest in the development.

"Not really." Charlie glanced in Castiel's direction before answering for them both. "To have Dean in my life I knew I would have accept Sam as well. And Sam is such a giant sweetheart it wasn't even a hardship." She grinned up at Sam as Castiel nodded in agreement on his other side. "I'm sure it's the same on the other side."

"Well, that is very strange." Marta said, not unkindly.

"I don't really think so." Charlie defended immediately. "They lost their mother when they were very young, and always only had each other to rely on. It's just like accepting your new mother-in-law into your life. Except Sam is way cooler than any mother-in-law I could have asked for."

Marta seemed to somewhat accept this answer and turned to some of the other couples, presumably to move the group along. Dean immediately leaned over Charlie to whisper-yell at Sam.

"What the hell was that? You're making us look like a bunch of weirdos. They do not need to know about our fucked up family dynamics."

Charlie cut him off before Sam could respond. "Everything I said was true you know. Anyone trying to worm their way into your life would have to accept Sam as part of the package. Just because you're closer to your brother than most people, that doesn't make you weird."

"Yeah, not weird at all. Just come move in with me and my little brother." He rolled his eyes at them all, as if it was the most ridiculous thing he'd ever heard. Sam did not bother to mention that Castiel pretty much did live with them most of the time. Just because he had never used those exact words, didn't mean that his actions hadn't already said pretty much the same thing. He had already assigned one of the bunker's rooms for the angel to use whenever he was around. Dean had always been better with actions than words. He just didn't always seem to know what his actions actually translated to.

The group discussion seemed to be coming around to them again, and Sam had no idea what the new topic was. Castiel seemed to be following along, so Sam would just follow his lead.

"No." The angel said when it was his turn, and the hunter had no idea what to do with that.

"And why not?" Marta asked him, seemingly surprised by his answer.

"Love is an emotion that is developed over time and experience. The only emotions that might be activated by merely viewing something are lust or attraction. There might be eventual love associated with someone that is lusted over, but love does not develop instantaneously."

She was asking them about what they thought about love at first sight. At least, that's what Sam hoped she was asking about. Otherwise his answer might just make him look like a giant ass.

"When I was younger I used to believe. I guess too many Disney movies or something." The group chuckled a little at that, and Sam decided he was on the right track. "But now, I don't really believe that is possible. Love is not easy, and I don't believe you can experience it just by sight."

Dean and Charlie both answered no, for similar reasons. There didn't seem to be many hopeless romantics in the group, as there were only two out of the remaining members that said they believed. They were clearly not realists as they used reasoning that didn't make sense to anyone else in the group, including their own partners.

The entire group ended up being torture. It was awkward question after awkward question, and of course, there were no attacks. They had suffered through it for no reason. When they returned to Cas and Sam's room they were all exhausted, although it was mostly just emotionally.

Dean had taken the extra list they were given, and had been crumpling it for five minutes. It wasn't in dust form, but Dean had tried his best. He tossed it into the trash as soon as they entered the room. Castiel had seated himself at the bar and Dean claimed the other seat. The direction they were facing had Dean mostly behind the angel, and he dropped his head forward onto the back of Castiel's shoulder in a show of his fatigue.

Sam and Charlie grinned at the act, seeing it as a kind of proof that Dean could lean on the angel in his times of need. Castiel had a fond smile on his face until he met the gaze of the other two. He seemed startled by the pleased looks they were sporting.

"One more group." Dean said, not raising his head from it's place. "One more. And then this crazy week will be over. We better hope we get this thing figured out by then. I'm not paying for this torture again." He finally lifted his head, rubbing the spot on Castiel's back where he had been resting. "One more day, buddy." He clapped a hand to the angel's back as he stood. "Come on Charlie. I feel like I could sleep for a week."

Charlie hopped up and followed him to the door.

"Goodnight guys."

When the room was empty Sam was faced with a very contemplative look from the angel. He stayed silent, letting the angel work out whatever was going on in his head. He headed toward the bathroom to get ready for bed. Castiel seemed to be on the verge of starting a conversation, but Sam was so tired he decided he'd rather be in the bed when the angel finally figured out what he wanted to talk about.

When he returned to the room, Castiel was exactly where he had left him, still looking thoughtful. Sam stripped down and crawled between the sheets before distracting the angel. "Cas, why don't you hop into bed and we can talk about whatever is on your mind. Hit that light on the way."

The angel looked confused for a moment while staring at the light, but Sam was able to breathe a sigh of relief when Castiel switched the light off instead of actually hitting it. The angel removed most of his own clothes before crawling into the bed with him. The fact that he didn't immediately curl into Sam's side said he was not ready to sleep yet.

"What's bothering you?" He was usually more subtle than that, but he was so damn tired.

"I have been looking for those signs of attraction that Marta taught us about." And now Sam was awake.

"Oh yeah? Did you learn anything?" He sincerely hoped that the angel was finally catching all the hints that Dean was constantly throwing out.

"I think so, but I'm not sure. I wanted to ask you about it." Even Castiel's voice sounded insecure and it was a seriously weird state for the angel to be in.

"Alright…" Sam didn't know how much prying he was going to have to do to get the other man to tell him what was really on his mind.

"I have come under the impression that, perhaps, your brother might be attracted to me." Well that had to be the most insecure sentence he had ever heard from Castiel. Sam cheered internally while he tried to form a decent response.

"Yesterday, after the attack, he seemed particularly concerned about my well being." Castiel seemed to think that Sam's delayed response was cause to explain further.

"This morning at breakfast, he repeatedly touched my arm as we were talking. Before the group started, he leaned over my shoulder to tell me something that was not particularly private. Then this evening he leaned on me as if to hold himself up when he was tired."

Sam nodded along to all of those explanations. After that body language class he had also started to notice just how much his brother touched the angel. He had seen all of these examples, as well as a few Castiel had not mentioned. It might not actually be his place to tell the other man what his brother was feeling, though. He had no idea what to say to that.

"I'm sorry, Cas. I can't say anything here. It's not really me that you should be asking." He patted the other man on the shoulder that wasn't pressed into the mattress. "I think you should probably talk to Dean about this."

The angel actually looked a bit scared at the thought. "What if I am wrong? He will be angry at me."

"He won't be angry at you, Cas. He might act a little strange for a while, but he'll get over it." He didn't really want to give the other man false hope. There was no telling how Dean would react. They could only pray that the question might break down some of those walls he had built up over the years. "Do you think it might be worth the risk? Maybe you are reading the situation right. Then you guys might both get something you want out of it."

Castiel looked smaller than Sam had ever seen him, somehow. He nodded in understanding, and seemed to be scrutinizing the hunter's answer.

"You two are the only family I have left. I don't want to be ostracized."

Sam pulled the other man to his chest in a hug. "Don't worry. That will never happen. You are family now. You have a place in our home, and our hearts. Even if it doesn't turn out the way you want, it won't make you any less a part of our family."

The angel buried his head deeper into Sam's chest.

"You think I should talk to him." The voice was muffled, and sounded like a comment and not a question.

"I think you should talk to him." Sam responded. Internally he pleaded that Dean would not fuck up this opportunity.

As he let sleep take him, he wondered what life at the bunker would be like if things worked out for his brother and the angel. He hoped things wouldn't change too much. He liked the life they had carved out for themselves, after years of being without a home and with only each other to rely on. He could imagine that things would only get better from here on.


	10. Angel Awareness

Dean finished up his nightly routine and exited the bathroom. Charlie was already curled up on her side of the bed, and he crawled in beside her, sighing as he sank into pure comfort. This group had been more stressful than the ones before it, and they would have to do it again tomorrow. He needed as much relaxation as he could get before then.

"Dean…" Charlie turned to face him, and he knew that relaxation and sleep were not going to be coming anytime soon.

"Yeah." It wasn't like he could pretend to be asleep already, although he thought about it for a second.

"Can I ask you something?" She looked a little nervous, and Dean knew he absolutely would not want to hear her question. He sighed.

"Yeah, what's up?"

She chewed on her bottom lip for a second, and it only served to increase Dean's own trepidation at hearing the question.

"What's going on between you and Cas?" And there it was. He should have pretended to be sleeping.

He might have pretended to be confused. Maybe throw out a 'what are you talking about?', but he didn't want her to answer that question. He just answered her instead. "Nothing."

"Seriously, Dean. You'd have to be blind not to notice that something was happening there. And I have perfect vision." Her voice was soft and gentle, and he knew she was lulling him into a false sense of security. She would stab him in the heart with facts just as harshly as Sam had.

"Is there some kind of intervention in my future? Have you and Sam assembled any other members into 'team: chick-flick moments' that I should know about?" He sighed heavily and flopped onto his back. He could stare at the ceiling and pretend like he couldn't see the emotions playing across his friends face.

"Is an intervention going to be necessary? I wasn't planning on it, but if that's what it takes..."

Dean didn't have an answer for that. He would rather they just butt right the hell out of his love life altogether, honestly.

Charlie sighed, and he could feel her staring at the side of his face. "Do you even understand why we want to talk to you about this?"

Dean grunted noncommittally.

"Think about it, Dean. It's not like we haven't known for a while that you wanted to throw him against the nearest flat surface."

It was startling enough to make him turn and look at her and as soon as he did so, he realized that had been the point. She raised her hand to his cheek to keep him facing in her direction.

"When I thought it was just lust, I just let you live in your denial. I know plenty of bisexual people that never get around to trying the other side. Whatever. You still had the option to live happily with whichever woman caught your eye." She rolled her eyes, and the hunter assumed it was toward people denying their inner gayness or whatever.

He cringed before she even started the next sentence. If his conversation with Sam was any indication, he knew where this was going.

"It's when I realized there was something deeper going on that I decided it was time that I talked to you about it."

Dean made sure his face showed her how displeased he was with the whole conversation, and especially the part they were at now. "So, you and Sammy got together to have some kind of torture fest on me this week?"

Charlie rolled her eyes, and grinned at him.

"I'll show you torture if you really want me to." Her grin faded. "But no, actually. I thought I was alone in my quest. Sam and I just figured out that we were on the same track earlier this week. Honestly, it surprised me more than it should have. Most guys aren't really attuned to this sort of thing, but you guys are pretty close. Of course he would have had to notice something like that." She shrugged as if it was perfectly normal to gang up with his brother on him.

"And you think I'm the gay one." He lifted her hand off his cheek so that he could turn his head away from her again. He heard her sigh next to him and roll onto her own back. So they could stare at the incredibly boring ceiling together.

"You are the gay one, buddy. You better start getting used to the idea."

He didn't bother to tell her he was already used to the idea. He didn't want to talk about this anymore. He hadn't bothered to defend himself to his brother, and he wouldn't start with her either. His love life was still only his business, no matter how many of these little talks they tried to have with him.

It took a while before she spoke again. "We just want you to be happy. And I'm not saying that in a 'you need someone in your life to make you happy' kind of way. I'm saying that right now, this is making you miserable. And if you opened your eyes for five damn seconds you would see that it's making Cas miserable too."

His attention snapped to her immediately, although he had been trying not to listen. "Why the hell would it be making him miserable?"

She turned her head to look at him again. The fondness in her eyes was unmistakable as she said, simply, "Don't be a moron."

As exhausted as he had been when he had crawled into bed, it took a very long time to fall asleep that night. His mind had been racing, and he couldn't stop thinking about the implications of Charlie's words. He felt like a zombie as they headed down to breakfast.

In all the times he'd thought about his feelings for the angel, he had never thought about the possibility of them being returned. Sure, occasionally, when he was feeling particularly needy or depressed, he might wonder what it might be like if they did get together. But even when he was trying to cheer himself up, he never thought about what it might be like if Cas really felt the same way about him. Not that he believed that the angel did feel the same way.

Although... Charlie had been right about him, so maybe she was right about Castiel as well.

His thoughts had gone in circles around the idea the entire night. Unhelpfully, he even dreamed of the angel. They shared a room in the bunker, and in the dream Dean had been completely comfortable sharing his space with Castiel. It was all so sickeningly domestic, and Dean woke from the dream with a combination of contentment and irritation swirling through his veins. The contentment had faded quickly, and the irritation had taken over.

It didn't take a rocket scientist to guess his mood. He could feel the scowl that was etched into his face, and he didn't even attempt to try to change it. He was in a bad damn mood, and it was probably better for everyone involved if they knew it. None of the others at breakfast tried to talk to him, and he was alright with that. He was left to stew silently between his brother and his fake wife.

Out of the corner of his eyes he could see Sam and Castiel glancing worriedly in his direction, while Charlie just shrugged and shook her head. As if she had no idea what he could be upset about. She knew, though.

As they headed to the the room where the group would be held for the day, she fell back to speak with Sam. Probably to tell him all about what an idiot Dean was, and how he couldn't be trusted to deal with his own emotions. Assholes.

He really needed to get ahold of himself. He knew he wasn't really this angry at them for meddling. He knew they thought what they were doing was right. And maybe it was what you were supposed to do when someone you loved was hurting. He was really just in a bad mood from getting shitty sleep. It might have something to do with having to wake up from his dream too. Only to realize that it was no where near real. That certainly hadn't helped.

He tried to push down his irritation. He had sulked long enough, and they still had a job to do. Hopefully, the god would show his face today. Dean couldn't imagine trying to do this thing again.

Everything was falling apart. Dean knew that this group would be hard, but he hadn't counted on the influence his own temper would have on the proceedings. Not necessarily the entire group, but certainly Charlie and him were having issues.

Dean had only been able to lift his mood minutely before the group had started, and between the looks his brother was sending him and the cute little comments from the red head next to him, even that had been a hardship. He did his best to make damn sure she knew of his irritation too. So, when it came around to them talking about the strengths within their relationship, Dean's sarcastic comment was met with a wall of frustrated anger from his partner.

"You are such an idiot!" She snapped at him, apparently at her breaking point for Dean's bad attitude.

"Yes, another strength! She tells me how dumb I am on a regular basis. It really helps keep me from getting a big head."

Charlie actually let loose a growl at the words. "I wasn't talking about your general intelligence. I was talking about your emotional intelligence."

"Oh yes. That makes me feel better. Thank you for clarifying." If Dean knew women, which he actually did, the fastest way to really piss one off was to make them feel like the bad guy in the situation. Especially when they really weren't. It worked like a charm, and Charlie's face reddened and her mouth turned down so sharply she didn't even look like the same person anymore. His success was really a failure, but he got a sick sense of pride from it anyway.

"You are such a dick! And to think, only days ago I was glad that we were on this trip together!"

"Well, that was before you decided to butt your head in where it didn't belong."

"It's my business, you ass! I'm supposed to be your best friend!"

"It isn't your business. None of it is." Dean could feel his own mouth turning down into a deeper show of emotion than he had revealed during the argument so far. "I've got it handled, so butt the hell out."

Charlie stomped her foot in frustration. "You can't even recognize your own feelings." Castiel stood, as if to move between them in case she actually went through with the clearly violent tendencies her face said were on her mind.

"You're right! Why don't you go ahead and tell me what I am feeling again?"

"You are feeling like a big jerk that wouldn't recognize love if it was staring you in the face!" Charlie's face was flushed, and he could tell that she was legitimately angry now.

Dean wanted to snap back at her, but he knew they were already getting pretty close to breaking cover. Real couples fought all the time. Probably not about one of them being in denial over being in love with someone, though. They needed to cool it before anything too incriminating came out. Castiel stepped up to them, placing one hand on each of their shoulders, as if he wanted to keep them separated.

"You're staring me in the face right now." Dean growled the comment at her, in the hopes that she would catch onto the meaning, even though he couldn't say the words aloud right now. I'm still mad at you. I'm still upset. I'm not backing down, I'm only staying in character.

"And you still can't see it, can you?" She said it aggressively, as if she really didn't believe he knew the things she was saying were only out of love for him.

"All I see is you trying to make me feel like an ass!"

"Dean, I do not believe that is what she meant by that comment." Castiel seemed to be trying to play peacemaker, and Dean would have none of that

"Oh, how the hell would you know, Cas?" Even he was surprised at his own vehemence when he spoke. It wasn't Castiel's fault that he was pissed. He had a reason to be upset with Sam and Charlie, but not the angel. He had done nothing wrong. Dean regretted his snap immediately.

It didn't help that the other man looked as if he had been struck. When the meaning of the words really sunk in, the shock on his face melted into a kind of sad anger that stabbed right into Dean's heart.

Before he could say anything, Castiel was pushing away from them. "I believe that I need some air." He said, heading toward the door.

The almost hilarity of the oddly human saying from the angel was short lived. A grey cloud formed near Castiel and as he inhaled with shock at the sudden appearance, the smoke drifted into him with his breath. The angel paused for a moment before he dropped to the ground, eyes closed and clearly unconscious. The guilt Dean was feeling at taking out his frustration on the other man intensified, as other emotions quickly found their way into his psyche.

Watching his angel drop to the ground slapped a fear into Dean that caused him to freeze in a way he never had before. The smoke flowed back out of Castiel, and although Dean was the closest, he didn't even think to throw holy water, or try to slash at it with the knife.

All he could see was the man he loved laying on the floor. All he could hear were his own words, echoing in his head. 'How the hell would you know, Cas.' And what if they couldn't figure out how to cure the coma epidemic that plagued the hotels guests? Would that be the last thing he ever said to Castiel? Hateful words, meant to sting, and completely unprovoked.

Dean forgot all about his cover. He forgot his job, and himself. He forgot about everything except the beautiful man lying unconscious on the floor. He rushed to his side and dropped to his knees next to him, not knowing what to do but needing to do something.

"No, Cas. No. You can't do this now." He didn't even know what he was saying. As if the angel had asked to be dropped into a coma. "Come on, come on." He pulled the other man's torso onto his lap. "Don't do this to me. I can't…" He could not handle this right now. He felt the stinging behind his eyelids, but he wouldn't allow that. "Castiel, you better fight this, man. You better not leave me out here, without you."

He felt his brother's hand drop to his shoulder, and he glanced up at him.

The look on Sam's face was filled with concern, and even a little fear. He dropped to his knees beside Dean and reached out toward the angel. Dean gripped the other man tightly, unwilling to release him. Sam nodded a bit toward the gathering crowd. This was supposed to be his fiancé. This whole scene was breaking cover in a big way, but Dean couldn't bring himself to care.

"Fuck them." He said firmly, pulling the nearly lifeless form closer to himself. It was then that he realized something that caused the blood to freeze in his veins. The angel wasn't breathing.

"No no no no no." He didn't even think as he pressed Castiel's shoulders into the floor. He compressed the angel's chest a couple of times, and when there was still no breath to be found, he lowered his mouth to the other man's. It was only the second round of CPR when Castiel's body suddenly convulsed and he sucked in huge gulps of air.

Surprisingly, his eyes popped open, and his dilated baby blues stared right up into Dean's.

"Cas?"

The angel did a full body shudder, and he rolled onto his side, coughing a couple of times. The hunter rubbed soothing circles onto the other man's back as he let it out.

"Holy shit, Cas. You scared the shit out of me." Dean let out a sigh of relief. He didn't know how or why the angel was awake, or why he hadn't been breathing, but he honestly didn't even care. Castiel was not in a coma. He was breathing now, and when he was done coughing he rolled back onto his back and looked up at Dean.

"I know." The angel said, confusing the hunter thoroughly. "Never do that again." He added, finishing the thought. Although it took the hunter a few seconds to realize what he was talking about, it still choked a huff of laughter out of him. He pulled Castiel closer to himself and the sounds of laughter that he made into the other man's shoulder were tinged with hysteria.

The police had a hell of a time getting any information from the newest victim. It could only have been frustrating to them. They finally had a witness that survived the encounter conscious, and he seemed to only tell them the same story as everyone else had. The paramedics were baffled at the level of health that the victim seemed to be in after surviving the attack as well.

Dean stood with Sam and Charlie, off to the side and out of the way. Although his eyes never left the spot where the angel was being interrogated, he found it within himself to apologize to them for his behavior. He wrapped his arms around Charlie's shoulders and leaned forward onto her back, pressing a kiss into her hair as they watched Castiel try to answer the questions being tossed at him from every direction.

"I'm sorry." He told her, completely sincerely. He wasn't ever really mad at her to begin with, and had acted like an ass. "I'm such an asshole."

She snorted, but didn't pull away from him, which could only be a good sign. "I know." She said simply. And that was that.

"Man, I really do love you." Dean told her, as if it was an amazing discovery he had just made, instead of something they had all already known for some time.

"I know." She said again, and he could hear the smirk in her words.

"You too, little brother." He didn't bother to turn and look at him. His brother would understand that right now he couldn't turn his gaze away from the man he thought he'd lose not even an hour ago.

"You love me too? Shocker." Sam was such a cheeky little fucker.

"I meant that I was sorry for being a dick." Dean scrunched up his face as if the idea of telling his brother he loved him was distasteful. "But I guess that too."

"Yeah, thanks." Dean didn't have to turn his head to guess the look on his brother's face. The eye rolling and gentle smile. He already knew it was there.

"Now if only we could get you to admit it to one other person…" And it was starting again already.

"I get it you guys. Got it. I've figured out all of your oh-so-subtle hints, ok? I just don't know if I'm ready for all of that yet." He knew he was beginning to sound whiney, but didn't know how else to get through to them. The idea of losing Cas today was enough for him to figure out that something would have to be done about his feelings, but he didn't quite know how or when.

"Well, you better get ready, dude. It's getting pretty close to the point where you are either going to have to accept it, and do something, or move on. Cas really shouldn't have to wait forever." Sam reached out and tugged Dean's arms off of Charlie. He raised his eyebrows at his brother as he dragged her away. She sent him a sympathetic look as she allowed herself to be guided.

What the actual fuck was going on? Now Sam was insinuating that Castiel felt the same way about Dean. This could not possibly be real life. As he watched the angel being poked and prodded, he met the other man's eyes and for the first time he looked for what everyone else thought they could see.

The staring contests that they regularly engaged in had nothing on this one. It was like Dean could stare into the other man's soul, and he feared the angel could do the same. That is until he realized that it was love he could read in the other man's eyes. And when he began to fear that it was the same brotherly love he felt for their other friends, another realization came.

Dean sensed the shift in atmosphere as Castiel continued to stare, and when the hunter licked his lips against the sudden change, that stare followed the movement. It wasn't that curious, ' what are these strange humans doing now ,' kind of stare either. It was a look of hunger. As if somewhere along the line the angel had picked up on the fact that tongues were heavily involved in intimacy, and he was interested in finding out more about that. It was a look that sent fire through the hunter's veins, and when their eyes met again, that fire was reflected back at him.

Well, Shit. When did that happen? And how had he been too blind to see it sooner?


	11. Angel Air

Sam lead Charlie all the way up to Cas and his room. He knew that Dean would make sure the angel would be well taken care of.

By the time they made it back to the room Charlie was practically bouncing in excitement.

"What are you so happy about?" Sam asked her, not knowing what could possibly be making her so happy with all the weirdness of the day.

"Dean is totally going to get it now! I could see it on his face! We are so close to victory!" She even struck a superhero pose that said she could feel success on the horizon.

The hunter chuckled a little at her ridiculousness.

"I've said way more than that before and Dean has found a way to fall back into denial about the whole thing." He shrugged because that was just the way that things were right now. He hadn't even said much.

"Yes, but last night I may have insinuated that I thought the same." Her grin nearly split her face. "We spent too much time trying to make him admit his own feelings! We should have started with Castiel's feelings for him! How could I have been so stupid?" She looked genuinely confused then.

Sam couldn't suppress the surprise he knew was etched across his face. He didn't know how he could have been so stupid either.

It wasn't like Dean didn't already know how he felt about the angel. He might not be very good at expressing his feelings, but that didn't mean he didn't know they were there. Sam had spent so much time and effort trying to get his brother to admit his feelings for Castiel he had forgotten exactly who he had been dealing with. Dean was so much more likely to be okay with admitting his affections out loud if he believed that the angel felt the same way.

Sam spent too much time worrying that it wasn't his place to tell them that the other felt the same way that he had ended up missing the point that could really bring it all together. He hadn't even thought much about the remark as he was making it. It would only figure that the effortless offhand comment would be the thing that actually broke down his brother's walls.

"What did you say to him?" He asked her because he was actually kind of worried that she had crossed a line in her effort to get her point across.

"I may have suggested that he wasn't the only one miserable about things being the way they were." She looked proud as hell, and Sam smiled down at her. At least she hadn't gotten carried away in her mission. They might actually be getting somewhere.

"Nice work." He was actually pretty proud too.

Charlie threw up her hand, and Sam clapped his to it gently even though her excitement and battle stance said she was expecting a much more aggressive high five.

She frowned a little at his lackluster involvement, but brushed it off a second later as she started plotting.

"So now that Dean is finally going to get his head out of his ass, how long do you think it will take for him to do something about it?"

Sam thought about it for a moment, but the answer came easily enough. "Dean's not really a subtle guy. He's the kind that jumps in with both feet and hopes for the best."

"I hope he really did get it figured out." Charlie sighed as she plopped onto the end of the bed. "I don't want my efforts to go to waste."

"I know what you mean." Sam arranged himself onto the nearest barstool. "I feel like this has been building for so long. It's about time."

"I hate to say it, but Cas getting attacked might actually be the push they needed."

They both contemplated that turn of events and what it could possibly mean for Dean and Castiel. Would the threat of losing the angel be enough to force Dean to finally confront the thing between them? Coupled with the thought that both Sam and Charlie thought there was something there, it might actually be push he needed.

"Thank god we had True Love's Kiss to bring him back around. Who knows what would have happened if Dean hadn't been there?" Charlie grinned sideways at Sam as she said it, and he couldn't help the bark of laughter at her interpretation of the CPR his brother had been quick to administer.

"I'd like to go ahead and call it True Love's Kiss from now on." Sam told her through his chuckles.

"Oh, I am certainly okay with that." She looked like she honestly wouldn't have it any other way. "I can't even wait to see how much Dean likes it." The look on her face at that was easily interpreted as evil.

"Yeah, he'll be ecstatic." Sam chuckled a bit more at the thought. God. His brother was more likely to kill them.

As soon as the door clicked shut behind Dean and Castiel, the angel made a startling announcement.

"I believe I know what is happening here."

All movement in the room stopped as everyone's attention turned to the angel. There was a pregnant pause as they waited for elaboration. Realizing that Castiel was not going to continue without prompting, Sam finally spoke up.

"Well, what's happening?"

"The smoke we've been seeing is not smoke at all. It is the air of heaven." The angel sat gingerly on the edge of the bed by Charlie. "I assume it looks different because it is on the human plane right now. In heaven it doesn't look like smoke."

"The air of heaven? What the hell does that mean?" Dean asked, looking unsettled by the news. Sam couldn't fathom why. They'd had to deal with way worse things than the air of heaven before.

"The air in heaven is different. It is meant to be breathed by gods and angels."

Sam knew his confusion was evident on his face, and he could see the same reaction from Dean and Charlie.

"So where is the air coming from? And why is it putting people into a coma?"

Castiel seemed annoyed by the question. "The air is meant to be breathed by the beings of heaven . The humans that have breathed it recently were not equipped to handle it."

Realization spiked through Sam and his confusion cleared."They are being suffocated."

Dean and Charlie showed only surprise at Sam's deduction.

"It makes perfect sense! Their bodies aren't equipped to breathe the air. It's replacing the air they are supposed to be breathing." Sam dropped off his chair and walked to his side of the bed to scoop up his laptop from the nightstand.

"If they are not breathing oxygen for a certain amount of time it would be like suffocation." He plopped down into one of the much shorter chairs and opened the computer, booting it up immediately. "I bet it was just long enough to cause their bodies to slip into a coma, but not long enough to actually kill them."

Sam's excitement on the break in the case was clearly not rubbing off. When he looked back up only Castiel seemed satisfied with his explanation. Dean and Charlie were looking at him as if he'd lost his mind.

"But what the hell does that mean ?"

Castiel sighed in that awkward way that said he was trying out a new human reaction to something. "It is also the reason why I didn't feel any hostility. This god is not trying to hurt these people. I believe he is trying to help them."

Sam continued his internet search, trying to figure out how long someone could be without air before they might suffer long term effects. Belatedly, he hoped that no one ever looked at his search history and got the wrong impression.

"Help them?" Charlie sounded just as confused as Dean. Luckily, Sam was already off on his next inquiry. He might actually have the rest of the case figured out by the time Castiel got the other two on the same page with them.

"Yes. Do you remember what I said right before I was attacked?"

The lightbulb went off behind his brother's eyes, and Sam barely contained his snort.

"You said you needed some air…" Dean looked amazed at the realization.

"And the god provided some air for me." Castiel looked satisfied.

"And you didn't fall into a coma…" Charlie questioned without asking the question.

"Because I am an angel. I can process the air."

"But you did pass out. And you stopped breathing!" Dean's voice was a little higher of a pitch than normal. Probably not enough for anyone else to hear the fear that was still there about the whole thing. Sam had been around long enough to be able to detect it though.

"My human vessel was reacting to the air. Usually, if I am to travel to heaven, I make sure that this vessel doesn't breathe the air there. It is also not equipped to handle it. I did not have time to prepare in this case."

It all made sense. That's why the victims were all the ones that had walked out on their significant others. It was less of a case of a god that punished you for running from your problems, and more of a god that answered the prayer for air. When were people most likely to say they needed some air? When they were upset about something and needed time to think.

"Did What's-his-face say he needed some air before his attack?" Sam asked the only two people in the room that had actually been there.

A look of wonder crossed Charlie's face before she answered excitedly. "He did!" She sounded surprised and Sam chuckled. It was always a good feeling when a case started coming together.

There was a sudden shift in the air.

"So you say it was only your vessel that was reacting?" Dean asked softly.

Sam's head snapped straight back to his research and he saw Charlie shift uncomfortably and look away in his peripheral.

"Yes, that's right." Castiel nodded as he answered, seeming confused by the change in atmosphere. Sam could only guess where Dean's mind had gone, but he was probably at least close.

"But you were still conscious." His brother's voice was quiet, but as everyone else in the room was holding their breath, it was loud in the silence.

Sam couldn't help turning his eyes from his laptop, surreptitiously. The angel was avoiding eye contact with Dean. As if that wasn't suspicious enough, the barely visible cheekbones were tinted a darker color than usual.

"Yes." Castiel admitted. He seemed to steel his resolve and looked up to meet Dean's eyes.

It was the hunter's turn to be embarrassed. He looked away from Castiel and rubbed the back of his neck. "And I'm the idiot giving CPR to an angel." He rolled his eyes and looked back at the angel with a small smile on his face.

"It was thoughtful, nonetheless." Castiel gave him a small smile in return.

Sam realized that he had been watching for too long and turned away, just as his 'pretend to be researching' scroll passed a page about the air of heaven. He quickly scrolled back up and clicked the link.

"Cas, what do you think about this?" He asked automatically after reading enough to know the lead had merritt. He immediately regretted it as the angel's attention snapped to him. Castiel came closer to get a better view of the mythology essay Sam had found.

The hunter threw an apologetic look at his brother. Dean just shrugged as if he and Cas hadn't been having a moment. Or maybe it had more to do with the fact that they were having a moment in front of too many other people.

"Aether, of the upper air. He does seem to be the one we are dealing with. Good work, Sam." The angel began scrolling down the page to find out more information even as Sam tried to pretend the words of praise hadn't made him puff up in pride. So he didn't get a lot of praise. If anyone had a problem with him enjoying it when he did get it, they could kiss his genius ass.

"How will we find him?" Castiel asked. Apparently he was as clueless about that part as everyone else was.

"Let me do a couple more searches and see if I can't figure anything out." Sam said, regaining control of his laptop.

"What are we going to do when we do find him?" Charlie asked as Dean took Castiel's previous spot on the end of the bed. "Ask him politely to knock it off?"

They discovered a symbol that was fairly prominent in all of the lore about Aether. It was a snake wrapped around an egg, which was actually associated with some even weirder lore about how the earth was formed. As if God and angels weren't weird enough.

The symbol seemed familiar to all of them, and they concluded that they had probably seen it somewhere in the hotel. The next step was finding the thing so they could figure out how to make the god stop accidently almost killing guests.

By the time they had gotten to that conclusion it was late enough to explore without having to worry about being interrupted by the other guests. As a matter of fact it was probably late enough that all of the other guests were already tucked into bed.

They spent a significant amount of time searching the room that the groups had been held. The two attacks that happened since they had been there had both occurred in that room. Not that it seemed to mean anything. When they didn't find anything with the symbol they consoled themselves that the attacks had happened all over the hotel. It was less of a consolation when they realized it meant the damn thing could be literally anywhere.

"But I know I've seen it before!" Charlie said for the hundredth time.

"I feel like I have heard this story before." Dean rolled his eyes as he fell into one of the chairs.

"I mean, if we've seen it before it means it has to be somewhere we've been. So we only have to check the public spaces, and I guess our rooms, right?" Charlie looked hopeful that they wouldn't force her to check every damn room of the hotel.

"Well we can certainly start there. You guys have spent less time in your room. Why don't you go check it out, just in case? Then we can start working on some more of the public places." Sam was trying to be reasonable. It was starting to get late, but they only had half a day tomorrow before they were supposed to check out. They would have to try to cover as much ground as possible while the other couples were out of the way.

"Maybe I go check out my room, take a little nap, and then come back down to help you?" Charlie looked so hopeful, and she broke into a yawn almost immediately after she was done talking.

Dean sighed, probably at the display of weakness by their friend. She was used to getting her eight hours, though. Just because the Winchesters could live on four hours, and the angel didn't need to sleep at all, didn't mean that she was used to that kind of life. Sam could understand where she was coming from.

"Alright, Charlie. You can head to bed…"

He didn't even get to finish his sentence before she exclaimed, "Thank fuck for that!" She was up and headed to her room before he could blink.

"Hey! Don't forget to check the room first! Let us know if you find anything!" He yelled at her retreating form. She threw up a wave of acknowledgement as she turned the corner toward the elevators.

He saw Dean shoot a grin his direction as they watched her walk away. One of those 'what can you do?' looks.

"Well, I guess it's just the three of us."

Sam, being the awesome brother that he was, offered to distract the night manager as Dean and Castiel investigated the buffet room. They certainly wouldn't get the chance to do that once the other couples were up. There wasn't much in there when food wasn't being served, so after a good ten minutes of asking the most inane questions he could think of he thanked the manager and headed back to find his brother and the angel.

"...don't really know what we would have done if you'd really been in a coma." He overheard Dean say, and paused before he stepped into the room.

"I imagine you would have figured something out. You always do." Castiel's voice was nonchalant. As if he truly believed that the brothers would have figured it out even if he hadn't woken from his attack. It spoke to how much trust the angel constantly placed in the Winchesters.

"You are missing the point, Cas." Dean sighed and moved as if to make his way closer to the angel.

As much as Sam really wanted them to have that big talk where they hashed out all the feelings they had for each other, he couldn't help but be irritated that Dean apparently planned to have it now . They didn't have the time, and this probably wasn't the place for it either. He stepped into the room before his brother could make another comment.

"Is this room clear yet? We still have four more rooms to investigate before everyone starts waking up. The night manager went on his rounds, so we should check out the lobby first and work our way toward the spa."

Dean sent him a disgruntled look, but didn't comment on the interruption. They followed Sam back out of the room, and Dean headed for the lobby while Castiel paused at some of the vases, tables, and art decorating the hallway. Sam took the opposite side of the room and began his search while heading toward Dean. They would meet in the middle and then likely head to the next location. There really wasn't much by way of decor in the lobby besides the comfortable looking chairs and couches set up in case you had to wait to be checked in.

"I don't see anything with the symbol in the hallway." Castiel said as he rejoined them and began checking out the vases and fake fruit set up on the ornate standing desk the employees used.

"Can I help you guys?" A head popped out from an open doorway, and he scanned the three of them.

"Nah, man. We're guests here. We couldn't sleep so we're just wandering around." Dean shot the man one of those charming smiles that seemed to make people think he was innocent. It worked, like it always did.

"Oh, uh, alright." His face still seemed a bit suspicious, probably because there were three of them, but he popped back into the office without farther comment.

"This is a dead end anyway. Let's get out of here before this guy decides to that Netflix isn't more important than his job."

They made their way quickly through the other public rooms, and didn't hit a snag until they got to the spa. They should have known that this section was likely to be locked up for the night. Luckily, Dean always had his lockpick on hand and made fairly quick work of the lock.

As soon as they were in, they split up. There were a lot of small rooms to cover. Sam took off to the right, and found the rooms were almost bare. Very minimalist. There were a couple of urns, and a few pots with plants in them to check out, but not a lot. He made it through the five rooms down the hallway he had taken, and headed back to the main room.

As he came around the corner he spotted his brother and Castiel were already there. Dean seemed to be just walking out of his own self-assigned rooms. Sam did not like the look of determination on his face. His brother couldn't see him from the area he came from, and Sam could tell by the look on his face that he was once again planning to take advantage of being alone with the angel.

"Listen, Cas…" His brother started, and Sam cut in before that could go any farther. Seriously? Dean wanted to do this now? Yeah, Sam had even predicted that his brother would be ready to jump off the cliff without looking. But was this really how he wanted to do it? Jesus.

"Alright, looks like this place is clear too. I really thought we wouldn't have to search the rooms, but it looks like we are going to be busy tomorrow. Stalking the cleaning lady, probably." Sam sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "I just don't get how we all could have recognized the symbol if we hadn't seen it."

Dean was glaring at him again, but Sam ignored it completely.

"Perhaps it was somewhere visible, but has been moved since we have been here?" Castiel suggested.

"Yeah, maybe."

Sam glanced around the room at the giant recliners all lined up.

"Well, we've done all we can tonight anyway. I think we should probably head to bed and work out the rest tomorrow."

Dean's glare followed him all the way up to their floor, where they would have to part ways.

"Goodnight, Dean." The angel said, heading in the direction of their room with no idea that Dean wanted nothing more than to speak to him.

"Goodnight , Dean." Sam repeated, smirking a little at his brother's frustration.

"Seriously, Sam?" He knew that Dean didn't understand why he was not allowing him the chance to talk to the angel after all the time he spent trying to get things moving in that direction.

"Seriously, Dean?" He rolled his eyes at his brother. He huffed an irritated breath before he turned on his heel and headed for their room. Castiel was standing in the doorway, staring back at them quizzically.

"Come on, Cas." He said, pushing the other man into the room in front of him. "I've got to get at least four hours before we finish this thing tomorrow."


	12. The Angel of Breakfast

Dean couldn't shake the feeling that he was missing something. Sam and Charlie had spent the entire week pressuring him into doing something about his feelings for Castiel. Here he was, ready to spew feelings, and his brother was glaring at him and cutting off all of his chances.

He crawled into the bed with a seriously passed out Charlie, and wondered what his brother was playing at now. Was it because they were supposed to be focused on the case? It wasn't like it was the first time they had to balance emotional issues and a case at the same time. They almost had this one in the bag, anyway.

So, what exactly was Sam's issue? His brother was well aware that Dean was one of those 'run in, guns blazing, and hope for the best' kind of guys. Did he really think Dean would treat this situation any differently?

Honestly, the dirty looks were completely uncalled for. Knowing his brother, he probably expected Dean to take the angel to a fancy restaurant and profess his love over fine wine and French food or something. Well, Dean was more of a burgers and beer kind of guy, and it wasn't like Cas hadn't been around long enough to know that.

As he settled onto his half of the bed, as comfortably as he could in the space that was still available, he tried to settle his mind as well. He would have time to talk to his brother about it tomorrow. Right now, he needed to try to get some sleep.

Waking up was pretty much the pure hell that he'd thought it would be. He was pretty used to running on minimum, but that didn't mean he had to like it. At least he wasn't in the terrible mood he'd been in the day before. He had to at least try to keep his attitude under control. He didn't need a repeat of yesterday's fiasco. Even if they knew now what the god was all about, Dean wasn't about to risk almost losing Castiel again. A little thing called paranoia would keep him in check today.

At least Charlie had gotten a good night's sleep. She was in a great mood, the little shit.

"Come on, Dean! I need my breakfast before we start the search for this stupid symbol again. Let's get this show on the road!" She threw a bunch of socks into her suitcase and headed to bathroom, as Dean tried to rub the sleep from his eyes.

"Easy for you to say, sleeping beauty. Some of us need a little time to get out of bed this morning." Dean groaned as he forced himself to sit up.

The red head rolled her eyes as she exited the bathroom carrying all of her accessories. She shoved them unceremoniously into a smaller bag she had laid out on her side of the bed.

"You probably shouldn't have stayed up all night fighting the forces of evil, or whatever you kids are calling it these days." She sent him a ridiculous grin with that remark.

"Well, cases do have a way of just working themselves out, with no effort at all on our part." He used all the sarcasm in his arsenal.

"Did you guys find it?" Although, she had already assumed they hadn't and seemed to be asking just to prove her point.

"Yep. And we already kicked that guys ass! Too bad you were sleeping and missed it."

"What?" she looked dismayed at the news. "Seriously?"

Dean just chuckled a bit at her. "Nah, we couldn't find it. Since you got the best sleep last night I'm going to let you and Sammy stalk the cleaning lady and see if you can find it in one of the other rooms. Cas and I can keep an eye on the guests."

The look on her face was unamused. "I'm being punished for sleeping now?" The tone of her voice said she wasn't actually surprised. "And why exactly are you being rewarded? If I remember correctly, you were a bit of a dick yesterday."

"Who says I'm being rewarded?"

"Oh, just spending the day alone with Cas. There's nothing there that might seem like a reward. Just watching Cas while he does his people watching thing…"

"That's not a reward! I'll have to spend the whole day trying to convince people that Cas isn't some kind of creepy weirdo."

"Don't try to sell me that bullshit. You can pretend that you're put out dealing with Cas freaking people out, but you and I both know that you would rather be hanging out with Cas than running around with me and Sam trying to find this stupid symbol."

"That is just not true!" Dean defended himself, finally getting out of bed and shuffling over to the coffee maker.

She huffed a laugh at his defensive behavior as she started shoving things into her bag at an alarming rate. She must have been a lot more interested in food than making sure her bag was packed neatly.

Charlie had already made coffee, thankfully, so Dean poured himself a cup and leaned onto the bar with the cup clutched in front of his face. He took a long sniff before bringing the cup to his mouth, reveling in the smell and taste of the best way to start the morning. The liquid warmed his insides, and the hunter threw a pleased smile at Charlie before he took another sip. At least she was trying to put him in a good mood this morning.

She watched him lean the cup back to take another sip before she spoke.

"How can you still be denying this when you were able to wake Cas from his coma with True Love's Kiss yesterday?"

It then became clear as to why she waited for him to take a sip first, as the coffee rushed out of his nose and he coughed and wheezed with the after effects. Nope, she wasn't trying to put him in a good mood. She was lulling him into a false sense of security so that she could strike when he was least expecting it.

Charlie was laughing so hard at his reaction that she seemed to be having a hard time keeping herself standing. She leaned forward with a hand on the bed while the other clutched her stomach.

"That could not have had better timing!" She managed between her giggles.

Dean was still trying to clean the coffee out of his lungs, but he could hear her laughter just fine. When he was finally settled, his glare in her direction was met by a cheery smile.

"True Love's Kiss? Really?" He dumped the rest of his coffee so he could get a fresh cup, untainted by the forced regurgitation he'd suffered.

"Well, what do you expect us to call it?" Even her voice was mocking in a way that Dean knew meant that name wasn't going away anytime soon.

He sighed instead of arguing with her. "You are truly evil."

She grinned at him as she shoved the rest of her clothes into her bag and zipped it. "If I was truly evil, I would have waited for you to change your clothes first."

Dean was late to breakfast, deciding not to hurry and taking a nice warm shower instead. It was nearing the end of the allotted time when he got there, so there wasn't much food left to choose from. He grabbed a big bagel that looked like it had a bunch of seeds and junk melted into the top and a serving of cream cheese before meeting up with his group at the table. It was a disappointing way to end the food fest he'd had while he was there, but he would survive. Probably.

He plopped into his chair, sending the group a grin and began trying to spread the cream cheese onto his bagel. Since it was one of the last cream cheese packets it had been buried in ice, so it was a little too solid to want to spread. It didn't help that his bagel wasn't even remotely warm. He sighed in disappointment as his bagel began to crumble under his actions.

"Dean, if you will allow me…" Castiel opened his hand for the offending bread, so Dean handed it over. The angel's hand reached out again and stole his cream cheese from its place on the table. Then the angel did something truly wonderful. Castiel took the plate that was sitting in front of him and handed it across to the hunter.

Dean was filled with the kind of happiness that only food could bring him as he looked down at the french toast and bacon on the plate he was handed. After the first forkful he was filled with the happiness only Castiel could bring him as the food was miraculously warm.

"Thanks, Cas." Dean said, throwing one of his charming smiles at the angel.

"Of course." Castiel smiled back at him.

Charlie cleared her throat at them, and Dean assumed they had been doing that staring thing they were famous for. He cleared his own throat and forced his attention back onto the food in front of him.

The conversation around the table flowed on without him, and he was only distracted when half a bagel was placed on the edge of the plate. The cream cheese was spread across it in a manner that said someone was more likely to take a picture of it than eat it. The other half was laid next to his plate seconds later and he chanced another smile at the angel that was his saving grace.

"You're the best." He told him with complete sincerity.

Somehow, Dean convinced the group that he and Castiel should be allowed to hang out in the lobby and watch the couples exiting, while Sam and Charlie searched the open rooms. Something about calling them and letting them know which rooms were empty, and splitting up so that there was only one person on each team that was lacking in sleep. Both Sam and Charlie looked at him as if they knew what he was really doing, but neither of them bothered to argue with him. Belatetedly, he realized those things were also true if they split into their preexisting couples. No one had corrected him, though, so Dean just went along with his own awesome plan.

He managed to convince Castiel that being in the lobby for the checkout process was important, so they made their way to the front of the hotel. They could hopefully just stow away on one of the couches and keep an eye on things from close enough to hear the room numbers at check out, but far enough out of the way that no one would pay them much attention. Of course Dean didn't have that kind of luck.

There was a couple that was already fighting when they got there. It was hard to tell if they were arguing about charges to their room that hadn't been made by them, or if they were arguing with each other over charges that they hadn't known about the other making. Either way they would have to interrupt before it got out of hand.

Before they even had a chance to work out a way to intervene, the fighting escalated. The guy was tall and beefy. He looked like he spent all of his free time lifting weights. The woman was a tiny little thing, cowering under the heat of the man's gaze. Dean did not like the look on the man's face as it turned red with anger and he puffed up a little more to make himself seem even bigger in relation to the woman's tiny frame.

Stepping between them may not have been the wisest idea, but Dean didn't really think he could stand by and watch if the guy actually decided to hit her or something. He may have just been trying to frighten her with his aggressive stance, but the hunter wasn't about to wait and find out if he really had violence on his mind.

So, he stepped between them, throwing up placating hands of surrender. He wasn't trying to fight the guy, but he was making it pretty clear that he wasn't going to let anything happen to the lady now behind him. The look on the man's face twisted in rage immediately.

"Mind your own business!" He snarled at Dean. It might have actually been kind of intimidating if the hunter hadn't faced things a lot scarier than a big, angry, but ultimately powerless guy. Sure, he probably had some muscle, and he had at least sixty pounds on Dean, but no supernatural strengths.

"Sorry, buddy." Dean was unmoved by the man's stature and it seemed to only rile him up more. "I think maybe you should take a little time to cool off."

"Get out of my way! My wife and I can work out our own issues!"

Dean just raised an eyebrow at him. "Maybe you should take a walk."

"Maybe you should go to hell!"

The hunter almost rolled his eyes at that one. Been there, done that. Probably had a dark spot on his soul to prove it.

The guy took an aggressive step toward him, and when Dean didn't back up, the guy shoved him. He placed both hands on the hunter and just used all of his strength to push away from himself.

Dean didn't want to run into the poor lady still behind him, so he tried to sidestep her as he was forced backwards. What he didn't notice were her bags on the floor by her feet, and instead of neatly dancing out of the way of the attack Dean instead tripped over the bags and fell hard into the table in the center of the room.

It was one of those round ones that had the sole purpose of standing right in the middle of the room and holding some kind of decor. It was not nearly sturdy enough to stay standing with a fully grown man being shoved into it, and they both went down.

All the flailing that Dean had accomplished in his efforts to keep himself standing had been in vain. He landed hard on the floor surrounded in what looked like a thousand different types of white flower. This particular table had been holding a vase, apparently.

The douchebag that pushed him was pointing and laughing at Dean's predicament, mocking his delicate sensibilities and of course the fact that the hunter was now covered in flowers did not escape his attention. At least he was too busy mocking Dean to notice that his wife was heading out of the resort without him.

The hunter glanced around, looking for the angel that was supposed to have his back. He found Castiel off to the side of the gathered crowd, holding the vase that had once stood where Dean was currently sprawled. The look on his face was all the hunter needed to see to know what had the angel so distracted. It was the vase. The stupid ass vase they had been scouring the entire hotel for. It was right here, in the center of the lobby. Hiding in plain sight, as they say.

Dean got Castiel's attention and nodded toward the door, hoping the angel would be able to escape with the artifact while everyone was still distracted by the ruckus caused by Dean body slamming the table in the center of the room. Castiel nodded in acknowledgement and swept out of the room before anyone even turned their eyes off the spectacle of a man on the floor, covered in flowers and a ridiculous amount of water.

Once he was scraped off the floor, and offered a discount on a bunch of charges that Dean wasn't planning to pay for anyway, he was released to return to his room and finish packing. He made his way to Sam and Castiel's room in the hopes that he would find his team there. He was not completely disappointed.

"Where's Cas?" He asked as he closed the door behind him, finding only his brother and Charlie behind door number one.

"He went to heaven." Sam's face was apologetic as he said it, and Dean guessed it was probably his brother's idea.

"And he went there because…?" Dean didn't even bother with decorum as he flopped onto the bed and sighed. It wasn't like the other two people in the room didn't already know that the idea of Castiel being in heaven meant that Dean would be crestfallen.

"He took the artifact. It seemed the only logical thing to do with it." Sam told him in his most placating tone.

"Because if anyone asks for air up there, it won't be any different. I get it." Dean couldn't even find the energy to fight with that perfect logic. That didn't mean he wasn't disappointed.

When Castiel went to heaven it was hard to tell how long it would take him to come back. The angels had a way of keeping him around for other things.

"He's going to meet us back at the bunker in a few days." Charlie added, sitting on the edge of the bed and patting his back in sympathy.

"He assured us he wouldn't be long. He was only going there to drop it off for safe keeping, and then he was coming straight back."

At least the tag teaming they were doing now was to try to make Dean feel better instead of the assault he'd been suffering for days.

"Yeah, he'll be back." Dean told them, mostly so they would quit trying to make him feel better. Sam must have picked up on the disheartened tone of his voice anyway.

"Well, he seemed like he really wanted to talk to you about something. I think he'll be back as soon as he can."

Dean lifted his head to look at his brother. He was suspicious of that statement and he knew that his face clearly showed it. "What did he want to talk to me about?"

The mischievous smile that crossed Sam's face said that this was the response he had been hoping for.

"Help me finish packing up his shit and we can head out. The faster we get back to the bunker, the faster you'll find out."


	13. Angel of Mine

It had been two days. Two days of listening to Sam reprimand him for being heartless and unromantic. Two days of Charlie waxing poetic about True Love's Kiss. Two whole days of the most annoying little brother and sister a man could get stuck with.

Apparently, when the angel was around it was like a buffer for them. They were on their best behavior as long as Castiel was in the room. Without the angel around to pop in unexpectedly they had free range of the bunker and used it to their full advantage.

Dean had already conceded that Sam was probably right about waiting for a better time to talk. That didn't seem to stop his brother from throwing ideas at him of what he could, or should do. When he mentioned the French restaurant in town Dean finally had enough and told him to knock it off. He was perfectly capable of figuring out his own plan of action.

Then there was Charlie who seemed content to harass him with fairytale renditions of his ridiculous attempt at rescuing an angel with CPR. To hear her tell it he was Prince Charming and Castiel was a damsel in distress, and no amount of reiterating the truth of the situation could sway her from her daydreams. Dean had taken to just rolling his eyes and leaving the room. He was well aware that his actions were entertaining her even then. Especially as his exit was usually followed by uncontrollable giggles.

Charlie had only been able to stay for a little while, before she had to return to her own life and responsibilities. She offered to hang around until Castiel returned, but the hunter knew there was no telling how long it would take. He convinced her that he would be fine. He'd lived through much worse than this before.

Saying goodbye to her was harder than Dean remembered it being before. Not that saying goodbye had ever been easy for him, but this time it was particularly difficult. The little shit had wormed her way deeper into his heart on this case, even as she was being a giant pain in the ass. She assured them that the separation wouldn't be as long this time, though. As if she missed them when she was away too. That reassurance made it a little better.

Dean retreated to the garage to escape the looks his brother had been sending him since Charlie left. It was less than a day and Dean was already restless without the redhead to distract him from his thoughts. She was good at keeping his mind occupied, even if his thoughts had still been on Castiel. At least he'd been too busy defending his actions, or rolling his eyes at her ridiculous preoccupation with what his future might be like now that he was ready to have one. When he was left with only his own thoughts, he could only think of all of the times the angel had gone to heaven and hadn't returned for months.

He was bent under the hood, trying to concentrate on tuning up his Baby so he could ignore the less than pleasant thoughts he couldn't seem to keep from swirling around in his brain, when he heard his brother's voice. The words were barely a rumble of sounds, and Dean knew they weren't meant for him. Which meant either Charlie had forgotten something, or Castiel was finally back. He tried to concentrate on the parts in his hand, but he could sense it the second he was no longer alone.

The angel was silent as he stepped up beside him, but Dean was used to that by now. Castiel was a man of few words. "I'm glad that you came back." He told him, already feeling that the words revealed too much. And it would only get worse from here.

"I said that I would." The angel leaned against the bumper next to where Dean was still pretending to work.

"Yeah, well just because you intended to, doesn't mean it was going to happen. It seems like there's always something, doesn't it? There's always something keeping you from being here."

All the times he had lost the angel flashed through his mind, and he had a hard time containing the emotion that came with the thoughts. He couldn't keep it from his voice either, and the words came out sad and he let loose an exhausted sigh. "I'm tired of losing you."

"You haven't lost me." Castiel told him. As if the proof of the angel being with him now should have been enough to show the hunter that he hadn't lost the angel. He seemed confused by Dean's choice of words about the times when he was away.

"Damn it, Cas! We lose you all the time!" He had to take a breath and steady himself. It wasn't the angel's fault he was so literal, and Dean really shouldn't get agitated about it. Castiel had never been any other way. The angel dropped his attention so he was no longer looking at the hunter. Dean knew he would have to try to keep himself calm during this conversation.

"I've lost you to your duties. I've lost you to things you've felt it was your responsibility to fix. I lost you in purgatory. Twice. I've lost you to heaven and their bullshit more times than I can count. I've lost you to the Leviathan. I lost you to power and weakness. I thought I was going to lose you again when you were attacked. I've already lost you so many times, and I can't do it anymore, Cas. I want you here." And then just to make sure his point was being made he steeled himself and added, "With me."

The angel finally met his eyes at the admission, and Dean counted that as a win, no matter how small a victory it was, and no matter how much it had taken out of him to confess.

"Of course I would rather be here with you." Castiel told him softly and the hunter breathed a small sigh of relief at the words. It was a hard concession without some reassurance it was being well received, and luckily the angel seemed to understand that.

Castiel met his gaze with a steady mixture of happiness and sadness that was impossible to decipher. He seemed displeased by the explanation Dean had offered as proof of his continuous loss of the angel. When he spoke, his voice was soft and reverent.

"You look to the past and you see only loss. When I look at all of the times we've been torn from each other, I only see that they couldn't keep us apart. They tried. Sometimes it seemed like all of heaven and hell and everything in-between were working to keep us apart."

The angel offered a soft smile and took a step forward to lessen the space between them. "When I look at our past, I only see that you found me anyway. And I found you. Over and over again."

Dean felt his own lips turn to a smile at the words. It was hard enough arguing with Castiel's logic even when he thought the angel was wrong. Dean felt no need to argue with Castiel's more positive take on their past. Not this time. Perhaps he had just been looking at things the wrong way.

He feared that his grin was getting that besotted quality to it that said he was absolutely smitten with the other man. He didn't try to hide it this time. "Maybe I need to adjust my way of thinking a bit."

Castiel graced him with a deeper smile of his own. It wasn't the dopey lovestruck grin that Dean knew was across his own face, but the emotion behind the angel's eyes was a variation of the same thing. The angelic equivalent. "Maybe I should try to stay here more often. I know I have a habit of leaving on a new mission as soon as the case has been solved." The angel conceded in what seemed to be some kind of compromise.

"Well, that might be nice." Even just talking like this was nice. Maybe they would be able to reach an agreement that would allow for all of the other parts of their relationship that Dean still wanted to explore.

The hunter dropped a hand on top of the one Castiel had placed on the car, and the angel's attention snapped to the hand immediately. Dean refused to pull back unless Castiel gave an indication that he was uncomfortable. When the angel only stared at their hands for a moment, Dean decided to continue the conversation before he forgot completely what they were talking about.

"Or you could just bring us with you. We can help." Dean ducked his head a bit, avoiding direct eye contact. "And we could probably use your help on our cases, too."

He tried not to allow too much emotion into his voice, but didn't really know how successful he was with that. He hoped he was able to convey his true meaning with those few words. He didn't just want the angel around. He wanted him around always. He didn't want Castiel to ask for help only when he needed it, he wanted them to work together. He didn't want the angel's help on some of their cases, he wanted him there on all of his cases. He didn't really feel that he could say all of that out loud yet, though. He'd just hope, for now, that the angel was able to decipher the rest.

Castiel seemed to be analyzing his words, and turned that soul searching gaze on him. Dean didn't know what he was searching for, but he did his best not to shy away from those prying eyes. He was done hiding.

The hand under his moved to link their fingers together, and he allowed it. He reveled silently in the novelty of standing inches away from the man he loved, face to face, with their fingers now locked together, and staring into brilliant blue eyes as they bored into his soul.

The sudden smile that crossed Castiel's features said he had found whatever he'd been searching for. "You wish to work together, consistently?" He finally asked, and Dean breathed a sigh of relief at the question. Maybe the angel really would be able to figure out what he was trying to say.

"Of course. I'm tired of finding you, Castiel. Aren't you tired of being lost?" He deliberately switched their theories of what had happened in the past.

"I am tired of being lost." The smile the angel graced him with was full of hope and happiness. "Perhaps if we can stay within arm's reach of each other we can stay found this time."

Dean's face quickly melted into a grin that was less than innocent, and the look was clearly not lost on Castiel as the angel responded with a raised eyebrow that did the same things to Dean's libido that he hoped his smirk had done to Castiel.

"Perhaps we should stay closer than arm's length, just in case."

The expression on the angel's face turned to amusement with a hint of what Dean prayed was arousal. "That may be the wisest course of action." Castiel said seriously.

Dean couldn't help but chuckle at that response. As clueless as the angel was at times, he seemed to understand what the hunter was trying to get at, and was even playing along.

Dean slowly breached the space between them. He made sure to make his intentions clear. He didn't want Castiel to do anything he wasn't comfortable with, but he also wanted the other man to know exactly what was being offered in their agreement.

They were so close they were breathing the same air, and when the hunter spoke he knew the angel could feel the words brush across his face. "Do you think this will be close enough?" He asked, his own breath catching as he paused, his body still affected by his closeness to Castiel.

"I doubt it. The world is very determined to keep us apart." The angel said slyly. That was a better response than the hunter was hoping for, and he grinned as he leaned forward and pressed his chest to Castiel's. His free hand rested on the other man's hip gently for balance.

"Is this better?" Dean asked him, knowing that even his tone betrayed the amount of want he was trying to suppress in order to make sure the angel was alright with the turn of events. If his actions were also teasing the other man, well that was just an added bonus.

Castiel groaned deeply before he dropped Dean's hand in order to wrap his arms around the hunter's neck. The angel pulled Dean closer, until their lips were close enough to touch. They didn't actually touch until Castiel spoke, and his lips dragged gently across the hunter's as he did. "Possibly."

Dean couldn't even remember what they were talking about anymore. All he could think about was the sweet lips he had been fantasizing about, scant millimeters away from his own. He let loose a frustrated groan of his own as he forgot all about the game he was playing and pressed his lips to Castiel's.

The angel moaned softly as their lips finally met, and Dean couldn't stop an answering moan of his own. The relief of finally pressing his lips to the other man's had a profound effect on the hunter's psyche. It was as if he had been waiting for this kiss his entire life.

The electric fire that coursed through his veins at the contact was a sensation he couldn't remember ever feeling before. Maybe his first kiss had been like this, exciting and new. Certainly it wasn't anything like the disappointment he'd felt recently as he tried to satiate his hunger with people he felt no real affection for. In fact, it was the complete opposite. Instead of emptiness and regret weighing down his heart, he felt as if a weight was being lifted. Making room for a kind of hope he hadn't felt in a while.

He closed his eyes and pressed himself flush with Castiel. The arms around his neck tightened, and he wrapped his own arms around the angel's waist in response, pulling the bottom half of their bodies as close as the rest of them.

He released the angel's lips only long enough to take a steadying breath, and when they met Castiel's again, he used his tongue to part them. He dove into the warmth he found and although the angel didn't seem to know how to respond, he allowed the action, only making a small sound of surprise. It took only a moment for the other man to catch on to the new development, and before Dean could begin to worry that he was pushing too fast, the angel's tongue rose to battle with his own.

Dean's surprise at the speed of Castiel's learning curve, and his fear that he was beginning to push his luck in the situation, was enough to make him pull back. They both sucked in a lungful of air while they had the chance, grinning at each other in the aftermath.

"I'll probably have to do that at least once a day for the rest of my life." Dean spoke before he thought, and he mentally kicked himself as soon as the words escaped him. Who said something like that after they kissed someone for the first time?

Castiel seemed less than put out by the thought as he graced the hunter with the brightest smile he had ever seen cross the angel's face.

"I think I can handle that." Castiel assured him, and honestly, that was the best response he could have hoped for.

When they finally made their way into the kitchen, Sam was waiting. His face spoke of a thousand questions he was going to try not to voice.

"Hey Sammy, look who finally showed up." Dean said, claiming the last of the coffee in the pot. It wasn't much, and it was the darkest and nastiest bit from the bottom, but Dean had never been particularly picky.

"Yeah." His brother acknowledged, nodding at Castiel. "Hey, Cas."

The angel nodded back at him and even sent him a small smile as he responded. "Hello, Sam."

Dean was well aware that his brother knew they had been talking in the garage and wondered if Sam would bring it up with Castiel in the room. He probably wouldn't be able to hold all of his questions back.

"Did you guys get a chance to talk?" Sam asked, glancing between the angel that had seated himself at the table and Dean who was still leaning against the counter next to the coffee maker. It just went to show how well Dean actually knew his little brother.

"Yep. Cas and I are on the same page now, I think. He has agreed to be part of the team. We're going to help him out with some of his angel stuff, and he'll help us out with more of our cases." Dean sent a smile to the angel to show him how pleased he was with the idea. As long as they all were on the same team, they couldn't lose.

Sam frowned at him, and Dean couldn't really figure out what he might be upset about now. He had finally gotten around to talking to the angel about his feelings, and they had even worked out some of the details. What could Sam possibly still have issues with?

"A part of the team?" Sam asked, in that way that said he knew more than his brother and was about to prove it. "Don't you mean, a partnership?"

Then it hit Dean what Sam was upset about. His little brother feared he had asked Castiel to be around more often, but hadn't actually gotten around to why he would like to have the angel nearby. And Dean thought Sam was supposed to be the smart one.

Sam turned to Castiel, probably to make sure that the other man understood what he was implying. The amused look on the angel's face seemed to startle him, and Castiel answered the question before Dean could even get upset about his stupid brother putting his nose where it didn't belong again.

The angel's smile held a fondness as he spoke. "Sam, do you imagine that Charlie didn't know what she was talking about when she said you two were a pair? That you can't have one without the other?" He reached forward to pat the hand that Sam had on the table in a gesture he must have learned from all the time he spent watching the Hallmark channel when he wasn't supposed to. "Nothing will be able to separate the two of you. I have no intention to try and take your brother from you. I can only hope that you will accept me as part of the team."

Dean could tell his brother was surprised by the admission, and the puppy dog eyes he was sporting said he was getting emotional about being included. The fear of being excluded probably hadn't even occurred to him yet. But it would have, eventually. The angel squashed those doubts before they could even manifest.

"Of course! You are already part of the team." Dean watched as his brother tried to reassure Castiel even as the angel did the same for him. Sam didn't actually spill his feelings all over the place, but instead seemed to be unable to stop his mouth from rambling. "You know we love having you here. You're family! I'm just happy to hear that you'll be around more often." As if to prove his point the giant jumped off his stool and swept the angel into an unexpected hug. The look of surprise on Castiel's face was enough to force a chuckle out of Dean.

"Alright sasquatch! The poor guy can't breathe." Dean laughed as his brother immediately released the angel, although he knew Castiel was probably fine with the arrangement.

It made Dean a little emotional himself, to see how quickly Sammy had jumped in to reassure the angel of his welcome within their family. Not to mention how quickly Castiel had rushed to make sure his brother knew they would be a team. All three of them.

"Sorry! I'm just… I'm just really pleased to see that things are finally working out." The huge smile Sam graced them with said it was the truth.

Dean didn't try to hide his own overjoyed smile as he watched his brother settle back into the chair next to his angel.

"Me too, Sammy. Me too."

There was a very good possibility that this was all Dean would ever need to be truly happy. Team Free Will, working together again. No apocalypse on the horizon this time, though. They had been through so much, and made it through together. They would certainly be able to find a way to make this new development work for all three of them.

It wouldn't always be easy, but it would always be the three of them together. And that was what truly mattered.


End file.
